Explorers of Time and Darkness
by wolf expert
Summary: We know what happened during the adventure to save the world from impending doom. We know what happened after. But what about before? As it turns out, in the beginning, Grovyle and his human partner hadn't been friends at all.
1. Chapter 1 Trusted Partners

The sky was dark, the air was cold and still, nothing moved anywhere. It was the same as usual. Only one thing was out of place. Moving across the hillside was a green and red figure. It was the only thing moving in this place and would normally be spotted immediately, but no one was around today. Lucky for him. If he was caught, it would mean death.

He stood on the low side of the hill at the entrance to the forest where he knew the one he was looking for lived. He entered the forest and walked for a few miles until finally coming upon her hiding place.

"Celebi!" The lone pokemon shouted. He waited for a minute. Nothing stirred. After a while he concluded that she must not have been there. He turned to leave.

"Wait, dear Grovyle! I'm coming!"

Grovyle turned back in the direction of the voice. A small sphere of light started to form in mid air and disappeared suddenly. There in its place was a small pink pokemon with bright green eyes. It looked like a fairy.

"What can I do for you, my dear?" Celebi asked.

"I was hoping you would be able to translate something for me." Grovyle took the stone tablet he had found out of his bag. He handed it to Celebi who looked at it curiously.

"This picture at the top is definitely a Time Gear. Unfortunately, I can't read any of this. Unown Runes aren't my specialty." She said.

"That's alright." Grovyle took the stone tablet back and put it in his bag. "At least now I know that much. Do you know where I might find someone who could read this?"

"Yes. I know someone. Or at least I might. I've only heard of her from other pokemon. She lives in a library on the main land. Pokemon are too afraid to go near because of her reputation, but, you know."

"Nothing is ever as it seems in this world of darkness." Grovyle finished for her. "So who is she?"

"I don't know. I've just heard rumors of a haunted library, or else a small child living in the library, or sometimes an old lady. Everyone's too afraid to go near it because she apparently works for Dusknoir."

"You expect me to ask a servant of Dusknoir's for help?" Grovyle yelled.

"Well, as I said, most of this stuff is from rumors, but a lot of pokemon say that she had some sort of strange power, which is why they don't go near. It does sound like Dusknoir, doesn't it, my dear?"

Grovyle nodded.

"From living in a library we might be able to guess that she would know how to read Unown Runes, but we won't know for sure until one of us goes to see."

"If that's the case, we should both go. If she does turn out to be a servant of Dusknoir's, we'll just have to bring her back here and get her to read the inscription and find a way to keep her from telling Dusknoir."

"You don't honestly plan on taking someone prisoner?" Celebi asked.

"If that's what needs to be done. Hopefully it won't matter soon anyway."

Celebi knew that this was just a dream of his, that he didn't really think they could make any difference, but it was hopeful trying to figure things out and to tell themselves that what they were doing was actually helping. But if they actually had to take a prisoner? Wouldn't this little charade turn into something too serious? Wouldn't it make them like every other pokemon in this dark and dreary world? But Celebi had to remind herself, Grovyle was like every other pokemon.

It was just a few days ago that she met Grovyle. He had come to the forest in search of a better place to live with more food. He chose Celebi's hiding place, but when he found out someone already lived there, he wanted to fight for it. Celebi didn't like violence. She was a healer and a protector before a fighter. She said that she would give him something in return for leaving the forest. A great treasure. He agreed, though it obviously wasn't like any treasure he could have imagined.

Celebi told him about the world of light. The world where a sun rose and set every day and where a moon and stars shone in the night. A world where the wind blew the leaves on the trees and the water ran through the forests in streams. It was more than Celebi had imagined seeing when she saw a strange spark in his eye. The two of them ended up being friends, but Grovyle was still a lot like every other pokemon in this world; greedy and scared at the same time, a dangerous combination. Like most he also had a longing for a bit of power. Maybe he thought brining the world back to the way it was would give him that power. But there was still something about him that Celebi found somewhat charming. He was still young and maybe he could change. People in this horrid world grew up much too quickly.

"Shall we go then?" Celebi opened the passage of time, which had been waiting there. "We'll use the passage of time to cross the dimensions to the mainland.

The two of them stepped through it. There was the uncomfortable spinning feeling that Grovyle hated. He woke up on the mainland, Celebi still floating above him.

"You're awake." Celebi said. "And it's about time too. You've been out for a while."

"No I haven't." Grovyle stood up. "Pretend all you want, but I've been asleep for no time at all.

"That will soon change, my dear Grovyle. The library's this way." Celebi took the lead and led Grovyle to a ruined old building. Two stone Luxray stood guard outside. Grovyle took a second to look and realized how ridiculous the statues looked, even though that alone would probably be enough to scare away most intruders.

"Isn't there a more secluded way in?" Grovyle asked. "These steps are so exposed."

"It'll be fine. No one ever comes near here."

"But if this person does really work for Dusknoir…"

"Don't worry!" Celebi tried taking something out of her bag. It seemed like it was too big to even fit in the bag. "Here it is! An apple for the teacher!" She handed a giant apple to Grovyle. "That's a Perfect Apple. I've heard that she shows a strange fascination towards fruit and that once she gave some information on a lost child when someone gave her a Perfect Apple. Give this to her and I don't think we'll have to worry about Dusknoir."

"A lost child is one thing! I don't think that the Planet's Par—."

Celebi covered his mouth before he could say anything else. "Let's just hope for the best! Okay?"

Grovyle sighed. "Fine. If we have to, we'll still take her prisoner."

The two of them walked, or in Celebi's case flew, up the stairs to the large front doors. With a bit of trouble they were able to force the doors open and they walked inside.

The place was like a maze lined with books. When they got to the back of the library, they quickly hid behind a book shelf. There was something that sounded like moaning coming from the desk at the back of the room.

"Wait, is that crying?" Grovyle asked.

"Sounds like it." Celebi said.

Grovyle came out from behind the shelf and shouted. "Hello? Is anyone here?"

The crying stopped almost immediately. "W-who's there?" A voice called back  
to them. It was high pitched and sounded pretty young.

"We just want some information, that's all!" Grovyle shouted.

"Go away!" The voice yelled loudly. "I already told your boss everything I know!"

"Boss?"

"You don't work for Dusknoir?" The top of a head peaked above the edge of a desk. After seeing the two of them she stood up. "Who are you?"

"I'm Grovyle, and this is Celebi. We only came to ask for some help translating something."

She stepped out from behind the desk and walked closer to them, staring curiously at Celebi. "Aren't you a rare pokemon? The time travel pokemon?"

"Why yes!" Celebi said, obviously happy that someone knew her by name like this. "But, you're not a pokemon, are you? You're a human!"

She nodded. "The only one left. In this world, anyway. Because of Dusknoir. I agreed to help him out of cowardice in return for my life, but I had no idea how lonely it would get here."

"So you do work for Dusknoir!" Grovyle got into his battling stance.

She jumped and took a step back. "I don't want to, but you see what they do if I don't cooperate!"

Grovyle only just now noticed the many scars and scratches, some of them really deep cuts. She obviously had tried to put up a bit of a fight. Grovyle relaxed a little, but still didn't trust her.

"They came here a while ago." She said. "Dusknoir and a half dozen or so Sableye. They were asking me if anyone from the Planetary Investigation Team had come here, but they hadn't. They didn't believe me. You're not one of them, are you?"

"No, but I've heard of them." Grovyle said. "They investigate the Planet's Paralysis and try to find ways of reversing it. That sort of research has been outlawed, which is why Dusknoir's been hunting for them."

"Outlawed." She repeated. "So that's why they tell me to stay here."

"Why's that?" Celebi asked.

She didn't seem to want to say anything.

"Er… Are you… hungry?" Grovyle held out the apple.

"Ever since helping to find that little kid, people have been coming here trying to bribe me with food. I had to start making up stories about ghosts and things like that just to keep people away. I would naturally turn you down too, but I've been terrified of coming out of hiding for a while now. I'm starving!" She took the apple and started eating it. Grovyle and Celebi waited patiently for her to finish eating. "Now I'd feel guilty if I took your food without giving you something. But couldn't you just settle for a book or something?"

"Please tell us what you know." Grovyle said. "It's the only reason we came here. Why does Dusknoir tell you to stay here?"

Seeing that there was no way to convince them otherwise, she decided to tell them. "He wants me researching the Planet's Paralysis for his own reasons. I thought at first he might have been planning to betray Dialga, but then one of the Sableye let it slip that Dialga wanted him to research it himself so he would be able to keep anyone else from reversing it."

"So he's getting you to do all the work for him." Celebi said. "How horrible!"

"Anyway, we were wondering if you could read Unown Runes." Grovyle said. He didn't seem to care at all what she had been through.

"I can, but whatever you have to show me I'll have to tell Dusknoir about it. He can always tell if I'm hiding something."

"Well in that case, we're going to have to take you with us." Grovyle got back into his battle stance again.

The human girl jumped in surprise and took a nervous step back.

"Hang on." Celebi said. "I know that this is important to you, but I think we're going too far here. Maybe we should just stop now."

"We can't now, can we? She said she had to tell Dusknoir everything so now if she tells him about us it will be too late."

Celebi suddenly realized what he said was true. "We were just messing around! You didn't honestly think we would be able to do anything! We've gotten in over our heads now!"

"No going back then." Grovyle said. "I won't end up a victim of Dusknoir and I'll do anything to restore time again. Just to see what it's really like would be enough for me! And if we leave her here Dusknoir will find out about what we're doing and everything would be ruined!" He couldn't believe that Celebi really believed that they had just been messing around, that she thought this was all just a game!

"Can I come with you?" The human girl asked.

Celebi and Grovyle both turned to her in surprise.

"You want to come?" Celebi asked.

"Please take me with you!" She said. "I can't stand doing this anymore! If you promise to keep Dusknoir and those Sableye away from me, I'll tell you anything you want! I just want my freedom back!"

"What do you think, my dear?" Celebi asked Grovyle. "Do you still want to try to restore time?"

"Of course I do!" Grovyle said a little louder than he had wanted to. "What's you're name anyway?"

"I don't really have one." She admitted a bit embarrassed. "I've been orphaned since before Dusknoir showed up. I might have had one at one point, but it was so long ago that I forgot it."

"We can't just call you human." Celebi said. "Don't tell me; that's what Dusknoir calls you?"

She laughed. "Yea. I hate it so much. I did read a name in a book once. Verity. It means truth."

"Verity, eh?" Grovyle said. "Fine. Now let's get out of here before Dusknoir or those Sableye show up." He walked back towards the door.

"He's so hasty." Celebi said. "It's not like we're going to run out of time; that's already happened. I'm sorry he acts so rudely, Verity."

"I'm used to it." Verity said.

"Listen, I really think we've gotten ourselves in over our heads. Grovyle is so determined though. Would you mind working with him for a while to research a way to restore time? I think that being around someone like you might help his attitude a bit."

"It's the least I could do for you since you're doing this for me." Verity said.

"Hurry up!" Grovyle shouted back at them.

"It might not be possible, but I'll give it a try."

"ARE YOU COMING OR NOT!"

They arrived back in Celebi's forest and watched as Verity immediately started looking around at the trees and the eternally cloud covered sky. She walked over to a Caterpie who was walking through the forest. It looked up at her startled and then used String Shot to tie her legs together and cause her to fall on her back. Grovyle started laughing at the top of his lungs, but Celebi rushed over to try to help her up.

"What's your problem?" Verity said to Grovyle.

"I can't believe so many people were afraid to go near that library because they thought you were dangerous. You're pathetic!" He said.

"And I'm guessing you're some big tough guy? Slinking around in the shadows out of fear of the Sableye and so insignificant that Celebi didn't even think you were serious about restoring time until now?"

"Insignificant? You're the one who's been hiding in a library for who knows how long and helping Dusknoir. I bet you were just an obedient servant like any of those Sableye! I bet the only reason you got those scars was because you messed up and got Dusknoir in trouble! I bet you're not reliable in the least!"

"Then why did you suggest brining be back here?"

"Will you two stop it!" Celebi said. Verity and Grovyle turned away from each other. "My dear Grovyle, if you really were serious about this you wouldn't let your emotions get the better of you like this! Now just let her see that stone tablet so she can decipher it for us."

"Oh fine." Grovyle turned back to Verity and gave her the stone tablet that he had kept in his bag. "So can you read it or not?"

"Yea, I can read it. It's pretty simple. 'The Time Gears transcend the boundaries of time and space and keep the world in balance. Each of these hidden around the world are the keys to the tower that regulates time. Though some be guarded by the Spirits of Emotion, Willpower, and Knowledge, each is the key to time and its regulators. Without these gears time takes no shape, as it takes shape as the gears turn. Placed in the temporal spire, Time shall take shape throughout space, and space is also brought into being, as neither can exist without the other.'"

"Well that hardly helps." Grovyle said. "Mind telling us what that means in English?"

"The Time Gears are what give time its shape, though they seem to be part of something larger. This tower it mentions must act like a structure for time while the Time gears kept time flowing. If one is gone, then the other won't work either and time stops."

"That's basically how it works." Celebi said. "Temporal Tower collapsed a long time ago. When that happened time began stopping in larger areas until it stopped completely."

"So we have to find these Time Gears and place them in Temporal Tower?"

"That won't work." Celebi said. "The tower collapsed and when that happened the Time Gears stopped spinning and eventually shattered and turned to dust. Even if the Time Gears were still around, the temporal spire at the top of Temporal Tower was destroyed when the tower collapsed so there's nothing we could do."

"So much for that." Grovyle said. "Our only lead and it's gone. Fine. It looks like the only thing we have to go on is to investigate the Time Gears and find out if there's something else we could do."

"That sounds like a plan." Celebi said. "But finding where they used to be hidden will be the hard part. They were well hidden and no one knew their location when time stopped. Now that they're gone, finding where they used to be will be difficult. Dusknoir's bound to notice that Verity's gone so I wouldn't risk going back to that library."

"We should have left her there." Grovyle said.

"You were the one that was about to force me to come with you!" Verity shouted.

"Right before you started begging us to take you with us!" Grovyle shouted back at her.

Celebi sighed. "Making friends. Wherever we go, just making friends… Listen, you two! You can't keep fighting like this! If you are serious about this, you have to act like it! I can't be escorting the two of you everywhere. It's my job to guard this forest so once you decide on what to do you'll be on your own for a while."

"Fine." Grovyle said. "We'll try to get along, but I'm the boss. I'm not about to be taking orders from a human."

"Whatever you say, 'Boss.'" Verity said sarcastically.

Grovyle wanted to strangle her, but thought it might be best if he didn't. Celebi sent them back to the mainland a while later. The two of them started searching aimlessly for the previous hiding places of the time gears, but without much luck.

The two of them stopped to rest. Grovyle wasn't tired, but Verity looked like she was about to collapse so he grudgingly decided that they should stop.

"You're such a weakling. Wanting to stop after that short walk?" Grovyle said.

"Well sorry, 'Boss.' It's not like I've been locked in a building for who knows how long or anything. No, I go on ten mile runs all the time!"

"Forget it. Celebi said we shouldn't argue and she hasn't been wrong on anything yet."

"She said you two should quit while you're ahead. Do you think she was wrong then?"

"Probably not. I must just be an idiot." He waited a few seconds while Verity tried catching her breath from all the running that they had done. "You've met Dusknoir, right? What does he look like?"

"Big, grey, antenna on his head, and one big glowing red eye. His mouth is on his stomach. I heard that he can use an attack from that mouth on his stomach that's really strong. I'm glad I've never had to see it. His arms are strong enough, though. He knocked a Sableye out once just by punching it. It left a huge dent in the wall too. But I don't get why you would want to be doing this if you've never even seen Dusknoir and the Sableye."

"I want to see a world where the sun rises. That's all there is to it." He said simply.

"I think it's more than that." Verity said.

"It's not really any of your business, now is it? If you're rested enough, we should keep going." Grovyle stood back up.

The sound of a quiet laughter came from behind them. Verity started shaking and turned to the source of the laughter. They could hear something moving around behind the rocks behind them.

"Sableye." Verity said under her breath.

"Let's just see how strong they are!" Grovyle stepped in front of Verity as a few Sableye jumped out from behind the rocks. They attacked Grovyle with their Fury Swipes. He knocked out a couple with his Leaf Blade, but there were a lot of them. "Verity, get away from here! These guys shouldn't take too long to knock out, but you might not be able to keep up with them."

"You're kidding, right? After what I've been through I could go for a bit of revenge!"

"Weh-heh-heh-heh! Why don't you just come back with us quietly? It would mean a lot less trouble for you!" One of the Sableye said.

"Of course after what your friend just said, we can't let him escape!" Another one said.

They all started jumping around excitedly and started to attack again. Verity and Grovyle fought against them for a few minutes, but more Sableye kept showing up. The two of them turned and started to run. Ahead of them was a cliff. They stopped again and turned back to the Sableye.

"Throw the Grovyle over! Don't let the human get away!" One of the Sableye shouted.

Verity stepped back towards the edge of the cliff.

"What do you think you're doing?" Grovyle said.

"I'd suggest letting Grovyle go if you don't want to explain to your boss why you weren't able to bring be back alive!" Verity shouted at the Sableye.

"You're insane!" Grovyle shouted. "You wouldn't really do that, would you?"

"Of course I would! I don't want to be Dusknoir's prisoner any longer! I would do anything if it meant keeping my freedom!"

"You're bluffing!" One of the Sableye took a step closer. Verity took a step back and staggered on the edge of the cliff before regaining her balance. The Sableye took a few steps back.

The sableye all started murmuring to each other about what to do, but apparently none of them could think of anything. Obviously they didn't care if Grovyle would die, but they couldn't let her die when Dusknoir had told them to bring her back.

"Now stay back!" Verity said.

Grovyle realized what she was doing and took the opportunity to attack the Sableye. Every time they tried attacking, Verity would nearly fall off of the cliff again. Grovyle was finally able to knock out all of the Sableye.

"Quick thinking." Grovyle said, obviously reluctantly.

"I read about something like this in a book once and decided to give it a try." Verity said.

"Oh, so it wasn't really your own idea." Grovyle said.

"Hey, I still thought of something to get us out of that mess!" Verity said. "Something unoriginal is better than nothing at all!" She stepped away from the cliff, but when she lifted one foot off of the ground, the other one slipped and she fell over the edge of the cliff. At the last second she grabbed the ledge and tried to pull herself up.

Grovyle ran back towards her and grabbed her arm just as she lost her grip and was about to fall over the edge of the cliff. He pulled her up and she sat on the ground trying to catch her breath.

"Thanks." She said to Grovyle.

"For what? You're too important to lose this early on." Grovyle said.

"Oh, of course. So you don't care about me at all, is that it? I'm just a translator, right? Maybe you should have just stayed at the library and learned all of the stuff I know. Or would you rather just use me as a scapegoat until you find a way to restore time?"

"Not a bad idea. By taking you hostage and threatening your life, there's no way Dusknoir would dare try to hurt me."

"You know, you and Dusknoir aren't that different." Verity said.

This seemed to get Grovyle's blood boiling, but he still didn't seem to want to hurt Verity, whether because he still wanted to use her as a scapegoat or because Celebi told him to, she couldn't tell.

"Let's get going." Grovyle said.

"Hang on. Before we do, don't you think we should at least try to figure out where to go?"

"They were hidden before and they're gone now, so there's no way to figure out where they were. We just have to keep looking and hope something comes up!" Grovyle started to walk away, but Verity stayed rooted to the spot.

"Now hold on!" She said. "You don't trust me and I don't see any reason I should trust you. Without trust between us, I don't see any reason we should continue traveling together!"

Grovyle turned back to her. "How stupid can you get? Of course there's a reason we're traveling together! We need to find a way to restore time. With your knowledge and me not being a pathetic weakling, we'll be able to get this done when neither of us would be able to alone!"

"That is if we can keep from arguing like this every five minutes!" Verity pointed out.

"So why don't you just stop talking unless you absolutely need to?" Grovyle shouted.

"This is what I'm talking about! Unless we can truly trust each other, neither of us will ever want to stop this fight! At least I'm trying to find a way to solve this, but you're just running around randomly and acting like Dusknoir's long lost twin brother or something!"

"If you want to be left to the Sableye, then fine. I'm going on ahead."

"Go ahead and leave. If I'm not with you of course they won't hesitate to kill you."

Grovyle sighed. "You're so weird. Fine. What if I said I trusted you? Would that make things any better?"

"Not really. Words are meaningless. Unless we can really trust each other, there's no reason we should try finding the Time Gear hiding places."

"Fine. So what do you suggest we do?" Grovyle asked.

"You're the boss, why don't you think of something?" Verity asked.

Grovyle thought for a minute. "Okay, how about this? I once heard a rumor of a treasure hidden in a cave not far from here. Why don't we try to get that treasure as a bit of practice for finding the Time Gear hiding places?"

"Sounds good to me." Verity said.

The two of them headed out to the cave. The inside of the cave was filled with pools of lava that, like everything else, were frozen in time. There were many types of pokemon in the cave, though most were fire types.

"We're kind of lucky." Verity said. "If time wasn't frozen this place would be burning up. Being a grass type, I'm guessing you wouldn't like it very much."

"And you think you could take the heat?" Grovyle asked.

"Probably not. This cave is probably part of a volcano. Whenever the volcano was about to erupt, the lava would probably pour out of this cave down the side of the cliff."

"We'd better be careful then." Grovyle said.

The two of them went through the cave together. Grovyle fought and defeated every pokemon that came their way, making Verity feel a bit useless since she couldn't really do anything. About half way through Verity found what looked like a wooden staff laying on the ground. She turned and attacked just as a pokemon that Grovyle didn't notice was about to attack him. She hit it right between the eyes with the staff and knocked it out.

"Looks like I'm not so useless anymore." She said to Grovyle.

"You are. You'd be completely useless if it wasn't for that staff you picked up." Grovyle turned away and started walking again. Verity glared at the back of his head for a moment before following after him.

They finally reached the deepest part of the cave. Everything seemed still and there was no sign of treasure anywhere.

"So where's this treasure supposed to be?" Verity asked.

"I don't know. It's really just a rumor, like I said, but it's supposed to be around here somewhere." Grovyle said.

"And you believe every rumor you here, do you?" A deep voice said from somewhere in the back of the cave. Everything went dark for a second and when the little bit of light that there was came back, they were surrounded by a ton of fire type pokemon.

"Who are you?" Grovyle yelled at the one who was apparently their leader.

"I am Magmortar and these are the Magmar that live in this cave." Magmortar smirked. "You, like many before you, have fallen into our trap! We spread the rumor of a great treasure and when people come running to find it out of greed, we jump them and take everything they have."

"You're just a bunch of cowards, then?" Grovyle said. "Real pokemon would just come out of hiding and fight for what they want instead of using a cowardly trap like this! If you think we're going to let ourselves be beaten by you, then you're wrong!"

"Hey boss, this guy seems a little weird, doesn't he?" One of the Magmar asked.

"Nonsense." Magmortar said. "He's just like every other pokemon in the world; greedy and selfish and that's exactly why we were able to lure him here. His friend's no different, human or not."

"You take that back!" Verity said. "Grovyle, let's clobber these guys for leading us here!"

"Watch it!" Grovyle pushed Verity out of the way just as one of the Magmar was about to attack with Flamethrower. Instead of her getting hit, Grovyle took the attack for her.

Verity stared at the burn on Grovyle's arm. It looked really serious, thought that wasn't what had been so surprising. Grovyle, being a grass type, had just protected her from a fire type attack.

"You saved me…" She said.

"Think nothing of it; I merely acted on a whim." Grovyle said as he cringed from the pain.

Verity tried to hide a smirk. "Whatever you say, 'Boss'. As for all of you, you really are cowardly to attack like that! Why don't you fight us for real?"

The Magmar attacked. Verity and Grovyle fought them all off, back to back. After a few burns, cuts, and concussions, all of the Magmar were finally knocked out cold. The only one left was Magmortar.

Magmortar looked around in disbelief at all of his fallen minions. "You think you'll be able to get rid of me that easily!"

Magmortar shot a blast of fire towards them. Verity dodged by jumping out of the way and Grovyle dug under the ground. Magmortar looked around, hoping to be able to spot Grovyle coming out of the ground so he could attack him before getting attacked himself. Verity used the opportunity to attack with her staff. Magmortar blocked it with one arm and shot a Lava Plume attack towards Verity. She dodged out of the way of it and Grovyle came up behind Magmortar and attacked with Dig.

Magmortar turned and used Fire punch on Grovyle, but Verity attacked by hitting him in the back of the head with her staff. He staggered and Grovyle attacked him with Leaf Blade.

The battle went back and forth like this for what normally would have been hours, though not even a second had passed. Finally Magmortar fell to the ground panting for breath. The Magmar started to stir and all saw that their boss had been wiped out. They looked at each other for a few second and ran for the exit. Magmortar got up and, realizing he was all alone, ran for it also.

Grovyle knelt down and grabbed at the burn on his arm from where he had taken the attack for Verity before the real fight had started. It was looking really bad at this point.

"Do you have any bandages in your bag?" Verity asked.

"Yea. Do you know how to bandage wounds?" Grovyle asked.

"Of course. At least, I've read about it, but I'm sure just reading about it will be nothing like actually doing it." Verity took Grovyle's bag and started rummaging through it. She took out some bandages she found along with a few Rawst Berries and some other things and started treating Grovyle's burns.

"You've got a few bad burns yourself." Grovyle said.

"They're nothing compared to yours." Verity continued to put the bandages on Grovyle's burns. "You'll have to take off the bandages every now and then to let the burns get some air so they can heal. Those Rawst berries probably aren't going to be enough to treat them completely."

"Thank you…" Grovyle said.

Verity shook her head. "If you hadn't pushed me out of the way like that, I probably would have been knocked out instantly. Thank you, Grovyle."

"I'm still your boss, got it? Besides, I told you to think nothing of it. It was just a whim that I acted on without thinking about it." Grovyle looked towards the exit. "Does creating rumors of monsters really help keep people away?"

"Yea, why?" Verity finished bandaging Grovyle's wounds and put the extra things back into the bag.

"Those pokemon won't be coming back here now. If we spread a rumor that there's a monster living in here, other pokemon will stay away and we'll be able to keep this place as our base."

"Normally I would be completely against taking someone's home, but since it was where those creeps used to live I don't have any problems with that at all. Not to mention, it would be good if we had a place to hide from the Sableye so we don't have to constantly run from them."

Grovyle nodded. "Of course, this place might only be a temporary place for us to live until we find out where a Time Gear used to be hidden." He got up and walked towards the exit. "I'll go and spread a rumor. The Sableye are more interested in finding you than me, and with these injuries I'm sure they'll believe that I was attacked by a monster of some sort. Of course, If I leave my bag behind they'll think that all of my stuff was stolen too and no one will have any reason to attack me while I'm injured."

"Aside from the Sableye." Verity pointed out.

"I doubt they'll still be around here. They will have thought that we've moved on and they probably wouldn't want to fight us near a cliff again. Either way, I'll be careful and lay low until I'm sure the coast is clear." Grovyle left and Verity sat down to wait for him to come back.

"You really trust him enough to let him leave you in a cave where you were just attacked?" A sphere of light appeared in front of Verity and Celebi appeared.

"Of course I trust him." Verity smirked. "Besides, he left his bag behind."

Celebi laughed. "That's a good point."

"So have you been spying on us?" Verity asked.

"Not really. I just wanted to make sure you two wouldn't tear each other limb from limb and when you got into that fight I wanted to make sure you could handle it on your own. If it got any more serious, I would have stepped in. Now I'm sure the two of you will be able to work well together. You might even be able to defeat Dusknoir if you really put your minds to it."

Verity smiled.

The two of them talked a while longer while they waited for Grovyle to come back. Verity thought it would be best if Celebi got back to her forest in case someone came along, but she insisted that it would be impossible for anyone to catch her. She also said something under her breath about wanting to see Grovyle again before leaving.

Grovyle finally came back, carrying a few extra items with him, and noticed that Celebi was there.

"Hello, my dear Grovyle. I've been waiting for you to get back." She said. "Where did you get all of that stuff?"

Grovyle laughed. "A few pokemon took pity on me and gave me a few items."

"And you just let them give them to you?" Verity asked.

"You might live in your books, but the real world is different!" Grovyle started packing his things in his bag. "In this world it's take what you can get or it might mean your life. You'd better learn that quick."

"I'm sorry, but I can't believe that." Verity said with a sad expression on her face. "I think the pokemon in this world are just scared. Maybe those Magmar and that Magmortar were too afraid to leave this cave and they just lure people here so they can steal food."

"Believe whatever you want, but we were low on items anyway." Grovyle said. "If some gullible pokemon wanted to give their stuff away, I'm not complaining."

Verity sighed. "Fine, but where do we go from here? We still don't know where any of the Time Gears used to be hidden and we still don't know what to do when we find them."

"I was thinking about that." Grovyle said. "I really don't have any idea, but maybe if we took another look at that tablet I found?" He took the tablet that Verity had translated earlier out of his bag. He looked at the Unown Runes for a second, still unable to read them. "Do you think you could teach me how to read this?"

"Sure." Verity said. "For now I'll read it."

Grovyle handed the tablet to Verity, but almost immediately she put a hand to her head. A horrible dizziness had come over her. It was so bad that she would have given anything just to make it stop spinning. There was a flash of light, and suddenly she was no longer in the same cavern.

Instead of lava frozen in time, there were pools of water all around, each shimmering and sparkling in a warm and inviting light. The source of the light was coming from a blue-green gear-like object at the back of the cavern. There were some pokemon there too, though they all had a strange light in their eyes that Verity had never seen before.

A purple snake pokemon looked at the gear. "Wh-What'ssssss… thisssssss? What'sss Thisssss light?"

A rabbit-like pokemon spoke next. "Th-this is! There's something floating in the sky and shining! It's an incredibly mysterious scene… But it's so… it's so pretty…"

"Yes, very…" A white and green humanoid pokemon said. "It's emitting this blue-green radiance from its center… That light is illuminating the whole cave… This is very beautiful…

"It's just fascinating…" A small pink humanoid pokemon said. "I've never seen anything like it before… But… but this thing… What is it exactly?"

"You don't know?" A dark blue and red pokemon with long claws said. "It's a Time Gear."

"Huh? A Time Gear? Th-This is?" The rabbit pokemon said.

There was another flash of light. Verity gasped and looked around. She was back in the magma cavern with Celebi and Grovyle. Grovyle was fussing over the tablet she had apparently dropped and broke when she had the dizzy spell, but Celebi seemed deeply worried.

"What happened?" Celebi asked.

"I-I don't know…" Verity said. "I just got really dizzy all of a sudden and I had like a vision or something. There was this cave filled with water and there was a Time Gear hidden in it! It was shining and rotating slightly in the air. The light it was creating reflected on the water and… it was so beautiful…"

"Oh my goodness!" Celebi said excitedly. "Verity, it seems that you posses an ability called the Dimensional Scream!"

"Dimensional Scream?" Verity said.

"Yes!" Celebi said excitedly. "It's the ability to see into either the past or the future by touching an object related to Time Gears. This tablet must have come from that cave! Verity, you've found the location of a Time Gear!"

"How do you know she wasn't just imagining it?" Grovyle asked.

"The way she described the Time Gear was perfect! That's how a Time Gear looks, so this must truly be the Dimensional Scream!" Celebi said.

"But why hasn't it ever worked before?" Verity said. "You said I had to be touching something related to a Time Gear, so that explains why it didn't work while I was trapped in that library, but why not the first time I touched that tablet?"

Celebi looked slyly over at Grovyle. "Because for the Dimensional Scream to work, the one who possesses the ability must be accompanied by a trusted partner."


	2. Chapter 2 Taking Prisoners

The Dimensional Scream. Ever since they found out about it, Grovyle had wondered what it would be like to look back in time to the time where the sun rose and the earth moved. Verity had been able to provide him with only a few answers about what the world was like when time still moved.

They were on their way there now. Celebi recognized the area that Verity had described and led them in the direction of the Time Gear's previous hiding place.

"Across the mountains and in a dead forest on a peninsula to the south. There you'll find the entrance to the cave that Verity saw. Inside that cave you'll come across a three way fork in the road. In the past, the real path was hidden by an illusion. That path is the one in the middle. Through there, in the back of the cave, you should find the place where the Time Gear used to be." That's what Celebi had said.

"Did you know where the time gear was this whole time?" Verity asked.

"No, but from what you described I recognized the area. I've been there once, but I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. You may or may not find any answers in this hiding place, but there are many others. I must return to my forest, so you'll be on your own for a while. If you find out about anything, you can come back to Dusk Forest by using the Teleport Gem I gave you. You can only use it once, so make it count."

"How will we find the other Time Gear locations if this one doesn't give us any clues?" Grovyle asked.

"I haven't the slightest idea." Celebi said. "Worry about that after you find this location."

They were almost there now. Just a little further and they would come across the area that Celebi had described to them. Grovyle heard the beating of Verity's feet against the ground stop and heard her panting for breath.

"Don't stop now; we're nearly there!" Grovyle shouted back at her.

"Just give me a minute!" Verity shouted at him. "You know I can't keep up with you like this!" She sat down in front of a rock and slumped against it to catch her breath.

"You shouldn't sit down if you're that tired." Grovyle said. "You know you're supposed to walk it off, right? It's harder for air to get to your lungs when you're not standing up."

"You just want me to keep moving, don't you?" Verity said to Grovyle.

"If you don't want to believe me, fine. I would like it if we could keep moving, even if it's just walking, but what I said is true."

"Oh fine…" Verity stood up and followed Grovyle again. Her legs felt slightly numb and she could hardly even tell that she was moving them.

They finally reached the cave that Celebi told them about. They made their way to the place where the Time Gear used to be and the two of them looked around.

"It's horrible…" Verity said. "It looked so beautiful in the past… The water's gone and everything is grey and crumbling."

"Hm? What's this over here?" Grovyle walked towards the back of the cavern. It was a gemstone of some sort. "Does this mean anything to you?"

Verity took the gem, but nothing happened. "It doesn't seem to be connected to a Time Gear. If it was, it would have triggered the Dimensional Scream, wouldn't it? But it does look familiar."

Verity held it up in front of her and looked at it at every possible angle. She tried to figure out why it had seemed so familiar. There was a mysterious shine in it that seemed to come from the gem's core. The glint itself seemed to spark something in her memory.

"The Sableye!" She said. "They eat gems like this!"

"They were here." Grovyle said. "That couldn't mean that perhaps they know the locations of the Time Gears?"

"Why don't we find out?" Verity said.

"I've got an idea. That is, if you're willing to act as bait."

"You're kidding, right?" Verity glared at him.

"What, you don't trust me? Maybe that's the only reason you can't use your ability and maybe that gem has nothing to do with the Sableye at all."

Grovyle's arrogant attitude was really getting on Verity's nerves at this point. She knew that he probably wouldn't act so arrogant if Verity weren't a human. She wasn't much of a threat to him as a human, or at least that's what he thought. Verity knew all of Grovyle's weaknesses from staying in the library for so long. Of course, she knew that it would be harder to actually try to hurt Grovyle than just reading about a Grovyle's weakness. She had found that out when they were exploring the Magma Cavern. Even though Grovyle should have been weak against fire type pokemon, he didn't seem that badly affected by it.

Verity couldn't believe she was thinking that she would like to see her partner hurt, even though they didn't exactly see eye to eye. She thought about his idea as acting as bait for the Sableye.

"I guess I could give it a try. They're not exactly cautious, are they? So they wouldn't think twice about attacking me even if I still have my staff." Verity said.

"Now we just have to find a good place for an ambush." Grovyle said. "I can hide under the ground with Dig and when the Sableye show up I'll jump out of the ground and surprise them."

They headed back outside of the cave. When they got to the place where Verity had stopped to rest, they spotted a couple of Sableye.

"So how do we get their attention without it being obvious?" Verity asked. "They would have realized that I would have noticed them and I don't think they're stupid enough to think I wouldn't run."

"I think I've got a solution." Grovyle took Verity's staff and hit her on the back of the neck, knocking her out instantly. "There. Now you wouldn't have had the chance to run so they won't suspect a thing!"

Grovyle dug his way underground and waited for the Sableye to find Verity. Those dense little ghouls took forever, but they finally found her.

"Weh-heh-heh-heh! What luck!" One of the Sableye said.

"Lord Dusknoir will be happy to hear that we've found our little runaway!" Another one of the Sableye said.

Grovyle jumped out of the ground and attacked the Sableye with his Leaf Blade. Two more attacked him from behind. He looked around. There were more Sableye than he had expected. The two he had knocked out were laying unconscious on the ground, but the four others had attacked him at the same time and knocked him out the same way he had knocked Verity out.

He woke up some time later in a prison of some sort. Verity was laying on the ground not far from him, still out cold.

"Hey, wake up!" Grovyle shook Verity's shoulder to try to wake her up.

Verity started to stir. She woke up and looked around at the prison they were in. "What happened?" she asked.

"The Sableye knocked us out and brought us here." Grovyle said.

Verity stood up and shouted at Grovyle. "No, the Sableye knocked you out! You were the one who knocked me out!"

"Keep it down!" Grovyle snapped at her. "Those Sableye could be back at any minute!"

"Weh-heh-heh-heh! You don't have to worry about that!" there had been a Sableye outside of the cell the entire time. "I've heard everything you said. So you would knock out your own partner? And here we were thinking you were something special, Grovyle."

Grovyle growled under his breath. "If you really think I'm nothing special, why don't you come in here and battle me?"

"Weh-heh-heh-heh! Now why would I do that?" The sableye asked in a taunting voice. "I know you just can't wait to trick me into letting you out. Don't even try digging out, by the way. I doubt you can dig through solid stone."

"Why you little…!" Grovyle moved towards the Sableye, but Verity grabbed his arm and held him back.

"You need to calm down." Verity said to Grovyle. "If you can calm down we might be able to think of a way out of this."

Grovyle took a deep breath and tried to relax. "Right. I'm sorry."

"If you're going to think of a plan to escape, I'd suggest you hurry." Sableye said. "Lord Dusknoir is on his way! He'll be so happy to see that the two of you have been caught!"

Grovyle punch the wall. A small dent formed where he had punched it. "What the point of thinking of a plan if that Sableye will hear everything we say?" he slumped against the wall and looked miserably at the ground. "After all of that work, is this really how it's going to end?"

"Weh-heh-heh-heh! It sure looks that way!" Sableye said.

"SHUT UP!" Grovyle shot him a venomous look and the Sableye stopped talking, even though there was a set of iron bars separating them.

Verity slumped against the wall opposite Grovyle and put her head in her hands. Grovyle noticed she was shaking a little. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yea, I'm fine." Verity said. "I just don't feel too good. I guess I'm just dreading the thought of going back to that library."

"Hang on. There might be something in my bag I could use to…" Grovyle looked around, but his bag was gone.

"Looking for this?" Sableye started waving Grovyle's bag around on the opposite side of the bars, just out of reach. If Grovyle was mad before, it was nothing compared to how he was feeling now.

Verity laid on her side and looked over at the Sableye. To Grovyle it seemed like it was a lot worse than nerves, but the Sableye didn't seem to be paying attention. She laid there for a while, just staring into space. Grovyle wondered how long it would be until Dusknoir would show up.

Verity started breathing heavier. She seemed to be really weak. Grovyle wondered for a second whether he had somehow caused this when he had knocked her out, but pushed the thought from his mind. What did it matter now? He was going to die, so it didn't matter if he did. Without him, Verity's Dimensional Scream was useless so it didn't matter if she died with him or not.

Verity coughed violently and rolled over onto her back.

Grovyle stood up and walked over to her. "Verity?" He knelt down next to her. She felt warmer than she should have been. He turned to the Sableye. "Hey, you! Didn't Dusknoir want you to bring her back alive? Well if you don't do something, she's probably going to die like this!"

"You really think I'm going to fall for a bluff like that? Weh-heh-heh-heh!" The Sableye laughed at him.

"Hey, I'm serious! She's really sick!" He turned back to Verity. Both of her eyes were closed and her breathing was more shallow than before. "Great! She's lost consciousness! Are you happy now?"

Sableye did seem a bit worried about this. Maybe not worried about Verity, but definitely worried about what Dusknoir would do to him if something happened to her on his watch.

"Oh, fine!" Sableye unlocked the door and walked in. "Don't even think about running. There are Sableye all over this place. Hundreds of them, even!"

The Sableye knelt down next to Verity and took her hand to check her pulse. "She seems okay to me."

"What are you talking about! She's unconscious!" Grovyle snapped at him.

Sableye straightened up and turned to Grovyle. "You know, she really hated that life in the library. All of us could tell, but none of us really cares! She was probably just so scared at the thought of going back there that she started imagining that she was feeling—"

The Sableye didn't even finish the sentence. Verity seemed to suddenly come to life and she grabbed the Sableye from behind and covered its mouth with her free hand. The Sableye struggled and tried to cut her arms even though his hands were being held behind his back. He tried to shout for help, but Verity wouldn't even let him open his mouth.

"You're not dying?" Grovyle asked out of shock.

"You said yourself that we couldn't discuss a plan because this guy would hear us. So I didn't tell you. Do you have a rope or something? This guy's squirming is making it hard to keep a hold of him."

"Hang on." Grovyle left the cell and came back in with his bag and Verity's staff. He took some rope out of his bag and used it to bound and gag the Sableye, who was still struggling as hard as he could.

"You know, I read somewhere that only idiots keep fighting when they know there's no way to break free of bonds like this. All he's going to get is maybe a bit of rope burn."

"Well leave him here and let's go." Grovyle said.

"Did you forget the reason we got caught was because we were trying to catch a Sableye?" Verity asked. "This way at least we'll be able to get what we came for."

"Fine, just hurry up. And you know we can't stop if you get tired."

The two of them ran through the prison towards the exit. They didn't meet any Sableye along the way. The Sableye's lie about there being hundreds of other Sableye around had been kind of obvious, but the fact that there wasn't anyone else there was a bit worrying.

They finally found the exit, but they didn't stop there. They kept running as fast as they could. They stopped on the side of a cliff on a huge mountain a few miles away from where they had been imprisoned.

Verity took a deep breath to catch her breath and sat on the ground, thankful for a moment of rest. The Sableye was still struggling pointlessly. Grovyle tried him to a nearby boulder and took the rope gag out of his mouth. He immediately started to scream for help before Grovyle punched him in the face.

"Quiet down, will you?" Grovyle said to Sableye.

"Hey, don't hit him!" Verity said. "He might be a Sableye, but that's probably an even better reason not to hurt him. Don't stoop to their level!"

"And if he was attacking me?" Grovyle asked Verity.

"Well that's different. If they're attacking you, you'd just be fighting in defense. But like this he can't even defend himself, so don't hit him or anything!"

Grovyle turned away. "I don't believe you! After all these Sableye have done, you don't want to get revenge?"

"Of course I do!" Verity shouted. "But at least when they attacked me I was able to fight back. It doesn't seem right!"

Grovyle sighed. "Fine. I won't hurt him while he's tied up." He turned back to the Sableye. "Now listen; I'm going to make a deal with you. If you tell us what we want to know, we'll let you go so you can get back to your buddies, but if you refuse or we think you're lying, we'll leave you here for whatever might find you. Maybe Dusknoir, another Sableye, or something you wouldn't want to find you while you're completely defenseless."

Sableye whimpered and nodded. "Alright! I'll tell you whatever you want, just don't hurt me or leave me tied up here alone!"

"Good." Grovyle said. "Now then, do you know the locations where the Time Gears were hidden in the past?"

"Time what?" Sableye looked nervously between Grovyle and Verity. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Don't play dumb!" Grovyle said. "We found a gem that your kind eats where one of them used to be hidden! Now we want to know everything you know, got it?"

"I only know what the human has told us!" Sableye said. "Lord Dusknoir might know, but if so he's never told any of us! I've never even heard of a time gadget or whatever it was!"

"Are you buying any of this?" Grovyle asked Verity.

"Strangely enough, I am." Verity said. "Sableye can be tough, but they're complete cowards without Dusknoir around. If he knew anything, he would have said something."

"You really think so?" Grovyle asked.

Verity stared at the Sableye for a second. "Now what's this?" She walked up to the Sableye and looked closer at a chain around its neck. At the end of the chain was a small white crystal. With a sudden shocked expression, Verity put her hand to her neck. She felt a chain around her neck and pulled it over her head. At the end was a crystal that looked a bit like the one on the Sableye's neck.

"Isn't that the Teleport Gem?" Grovyle snapped at her. "You had that with you this whole time and forgot about it?"

"I'm sorry, I guess I was just a bit panicked and I forgot about it until now." Verity said. "It doesn't really matter though, does it? We still got out of there and we caught one of the Sableye as a bonus. Not to mention its one use only, so this way we'll just get to use it later."

Grovyle sighed. "I guess that's true. But that gem around his neck? That's not a Teleport Gem, is it?"

"No, it looks like just a regular crystal of some sort." Verity took the chain from around Sableye's neck to get a closer look at it.

"H-Hey! Give it back!" The Sableye said desperately. "Please, it's my treasure! Sableye dig for crystals to eat and that was the first one I ever dug out of the ground! It means so much to me."

Verity held up the crystal to get a better look at it. At that moment, she started to get extremely dizzy. There was a flash of light and she was no longer standing on the edge of a mountain cliff.

She was standing in the middle of three giant gems. There were three other pokemon there, all looking around intently for something. One of them looked like three brown blobs sticking out of the ground, the second one looked like a yellow flower, and the third looked like a little beaver.

"Nothing seems out of the ordinary here." The three-headed pokemon said. "There's nothing here that looks remotely like a Time Gear."

"Nope, it doesn't look like there is." The flower pokemon said. "But yippee! We got so far together! And that dungeon was no easy task."

"Gosh, these crystals sure are mighty pretty too, wouldn't you say?" the beaver pokemon said.

"I wonder if any of the other guild members have found anything?" the flower pokemon said. "Let's head back and find out!"

The two other pokemon nodded in agreement. The three headed pokemon followed after the flower pokemon, but the beaver-like pokemon, stayed behind for just a second longer so he could pick up a small crystal lying on the ground, put it in his bag, and run off after his friends.

There was a second flash of light and Verity was standing back on the side of the cliff again with Grovyle and their captive.

"Where did you get this crystal?" Verity asked the Sableye.

"Like I would tell you! That mine is owned privately by the Sableye! It was a gift from Dusknoir for being such loyal minions! I'm not about to tell just anyone the location just so they can go and pocket some gems to make some easy money!"

"You'd better lead us there, or we'll leave you here for the Skarmory. I hear they have a vicious temper and that they have big appetites!"

Sableye shrieked and started struggling against the ropes again. "Y-You wouldn't dare!"

"Lead us there!" Grovyle growled. He had caught on to what had happened, even though Verity couldn't tell him without the Sableye hearing her.

"Fine! I'll tell you where it is, just please let me go!" The Sableye screamed.

"Oh, we're not letting you go so soon." Grovyle said. "We'll let you go after you lead us to your mine. That way you can't tip any of your buddies off to where we're going and you won't be able to lead us in the wrong direction."

Sableye thought for a minute. "Oh… Oh, fine! I'll lead you there, just give me my crystal back first!"

Verity walked back over to the Sableye and put the crystal's chain back around his neck. They untied him and tied the rope around his arms and stomach so he couldn't move his arms at all. The rest of the rope they used as a kind of leash to make sure he wouldn't run away.

"Well? Lead the way!" Grovyle said to him.

Dusknoir punched the wall behind him and left a small dent in it. He turned back to the Sableye who had made the mistake of giving him the bad news.

"You're saying that Grovyle escaped! You said he was just a foolish kid! You said he wouldn't be a problem!"

"Eep!" The Sableye cowered in front of him like some small and insignificant rodent being stared down by a hungry owl. "We underestimated him! Forgive us, Lord Dusknoir!"

"We must get rid of this troublesome Grovyle before he becomes a real threat!" Dusknoir bellowed.

"Verity must have helped him escape! It's the only possible answer!" Sableye said.

"Verity is dead!" Dusknoir bellowed.

The Sableye shook his head frantically. "No, not that Verity! Verity is the name our human friend has taken this time around! Ironic, considering—"

"I don't want to hear another word of it!" Dusknoir shouted. "Find them and bring them back here! She has never resisted capture before; there must be something else going on here that we're not aware of! Figure it out and report back before you do anything else!"


	3. Chapter 3 DoubleEdged Sword

Across the barren and still landscape, there was only one source of movement. Walking across this dried up world of darkness was three figures. One was a Grovyle, one a human, and the third a Sableye which they had taken captive and were now leading by a rope.

"Are we nearly there?" Grovyle asked the Sableye.

"Y-Yes. This is near the area of Dusk Mine. Just a little further. Then you'll let me go, right?" The Sableye whimpered.

"I'll think about it."

"GROVYLE!" Verity snapped at him.

"Alright! Alright! Fine. I'll let you go, but you have to lead us to the deepest part of the mine first." Grovyle said to the Sableye.

Sableye continued to lead the two of them reluctantly through the wasteland until they came upon a dark cave. The Sableye led the two of them inside and through the various tunnels of the cave. Since this was the mine where the Sableye got all of their food, this Sableye knew the mines like the backs of his hands.

All throughout the cave there were crystals sticking out of the walls. It didn't seem like they had to try too hard to dig the crystals out. Verity noticed Grovyle staring greedily at the crystals all over the cave, but she gave him a poke in the ribs with her elbow and he started focusing more on the reason they came here in the first place.

After a while of walking, they finally came to the deepest part of the mine. Verity thought the first Time Gear location looked bad, but this was even worse. The three crystals that used to stand like giant pillars reaching up to the roof of the cave were nearly gone. Verity noticed some distinct bite marks in the surface of the crystals. It looked like the Sableye had almost entirely eaten the three crystals. The whole area looked bitten into and a bit larger than in her vision and there were hardly any crystals left in this area.

"This part of the mine's been dry for a while now." Sableye said. "We don't even bother coming down this far anymore. Now can I please go?"

Verity sighed. "Fine, you can go." She untied the ropes around him. The Sableye scratched at her with his claws, leaving a deep cut in her wrist, before running off screaming.

"That looked like it hurt." Grovyle took some bandages out of his bag and started to wrap them around Verity's injured wrist. "I could have just cut the ropes off with Leaf Blade, you know."

"Oh yea, and you're mister nice all of a sudden?" Verity asked.

"We'd better make this fast and get out of here before that Sableye comes back with some friends." Grovyle said.

"Hang on. The reason I wanted to let him go is because I don't think this really is the deepest part of the cave, but this is the place I saw in my vision. I didn't see a Time Gear, but since the Dimensional Scream was activated, there must be one in this area." Verity said.

"You think there's more to this old mine than even the Sableye knew about?" Grovyle asked.

"I do." Verity walked over to one of the nearly entirely eaten crystal pillars. "In my vision, these three crystals really stood out." She touched one of the crystals, hoping that she would be able to make her ability activate on purpose for once.

It worked. She started getting horribly dizzy, as usual. There was a flash of light and she was standing still in this area, but in the past when the crystals used to be whole and the chamber was a lot smaller without the Sableye eating through it.

There were three pokemon standing in between the three crystals. They each had blue bodies, but their heads were different colors. One was pink, one was green, and one was yellow.

"This will be the hiding place you choose?" The pink pokemon asked.

"Yep." The green pokemon said. "There's an enormous lake underneath here. I've set up these crystals as the key to Crystal Lake. The puzzle won't be easy to figure out."

"I think it's a great idea myself." The yellow pokemon said. "Tons of people come to Crystal Cave in hopes of finding some valuable crystals to make some easy money. Not many people come this deep into the cave, though I'm sure some probably would thinking there might be some really rare gems back here. That way if they see that nothing's here, they might believe that nothing's here and no one will have any other reason to come here aside from the crystals."

"I get it." The pink pokemon said. "So the popularity of this place will be what hides the Time Gear. People naturally flock to remote places in hopes of discovering treasures, but in a place that's visited all the time by other pokemon, no one would expect there to be anything here."

"Exactly." The yellow pokemon said.

"Plus you should see the lake under here." The green pokemon said. "It's beautiful, with all of the crystals and the water shining off of the time gear."

"Sounds nearly as beautiful as Fogbound Lake." The yellow pokemon said. "You should see how the Volbeat, Illumise and the Time Gear all reflect on the water when the geyser erupts! So relaxing. So beautiful! What a view that is."

"Aww! Why'd I have to get stuck in a desert?" the pink pokemon said. "There's nothing there but sand and more sand."

"But I must say, I'm curious to hear how you've set up these crystals as the keys to Crystal Lake." The yellow pokemon said to the green pokemon.

"I'll give you a hint." The green pokemon said. "These crystals are connected with my spirit. Once the crystals are the same as my spirit, the doorway will open."

"What to you mean by that?" the pink pokemon asked.

"Watch and see, Mesprit!" the green pokemon flew over to one of the crystals and touched it. It's color immediately changed. "And that's the only hint you get!"

"Genius!" the yellow pokemon said.

"That coming from Uxie means it must be true." Mesprit said.

There was another flash of light and Verity was standing back in the present time.

"Did you see anything?" Grovyle asked.

Verity nodded. "I'm not sure what was going on, but I think that vision was from when the Time Gear was first brought here. There were three pokemon here discussing hiding the Time Gear in a lake in a hidden cavern under here. There's a lake in the cavern called Crystal Lake. These crystals acted as the key to Crystal Lake, but the pokemon who was guarding the Time Gear didn't even want to show his friends exactly how to open it."

"That's a step in the right direction at least."

Verity thought of when they first met. She had translated some Unown Runes that were written on a tablet for him. When they found out that the Time Gears and Temporal Tower no longer even existed, Grovyle got frustrated so easily. Though he was still as hasty as ever, he seemed to be more patient when it came to figuring out stuff like this.

"Did you see anything else that might help us?" Grovyle asked.

"Well, I caught the names of two of the pokemon when they were talking." Verity said. "There was one pokemon with a pink head named Mesprit and one with a yellow head named Uxie. The last one was green, but I didn't hear his name. And he's the one that was supposed to guard this Time Gear."

"Mesprite and Uxie?" Grovyle said. "You've lived in a library for years and you've never heard those names?"

"No, I'm afraid not." Verity said. "Do they mean anything to you?"

"Mesprit is the being of Emotion and Uxie is the being of Knowledge. That last pokemon you saw must have been Azelf, the being of Willpower."

"Wait, do you remember what that tablet said?"

"No, because you broke it!" Grovyle snapped at her, remembering that horrible incident, which really wasn't all that bad since it was when Verity discovered she had the Dimensional Scream ability.

"Well, it said that some of the Time Gears were guarded by spirits of Emotion, Wisdom and Willpower. It must have meant Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit." Verity said. "Oh, there was one other thing to. Azelf said that the crystals had to match his spirit. Then when he touched one of the crystals, it changed color."

For the first time, Grovyle seemed to actually be thinking this through all the way. "The key must be in the color… Yes, I see…" He said. "Of the three spiritual elements of Knowledge, Emotion, and Willpower… Azelf is the being of Willpower." He looked around at the ruins of the three crystal pillars as if expecting the answer to be written there somewhere.

"Well how does that help us?" Verity asked.

"Willpower is the motivation that drives us." he said to Verity. "It's a unifying power." A glimmer of sudden understanding seemed to appear in his eyes. He turned back to the three ruined crystals. "To unify means to make one. So if the colors of the crystals were made one… The path should reveal itself!"

"But what about what Azelf said. He said the crystals had to match his spirit."

Grovyle turned back to Verity. "What is the color of Azelf's spirit? That is the question." He was quiet for a while longer while trying to figure this out. Verity was interested now and wondered if Grovyle would actually be able to figure this out on his own. He started to pace up and down in front of the crystals. "Azelf lives at Crystal Lake. Then Azelf's Spirit must be affected by the crystals…"

"Effected by the crystals?" Verity said with a bit of skepticism. "I'm not so sure about that."

"Did he say anything that might say otherwise?" Grovyle asked.

Verity thought and tried to remember everything he had said. "Well, he said the way the Time Gear shone off of the water and the crystals looked really nice. Now that you mention it, I suppose it could be possible… So what color is his spirit? It would probably help if I had seen all of the colors that the crystals could turn into."

"Not that the color would be able to help us all that much." Grovyle said. "We're getting too distracted here. This doesn't tell us anything about how to restore time!"

"Mesprit said that her Time Gear was hidden in a desert and Uxie said that his was hidden in a place called Fogbound Lake, but maybe we need to think this through a little more before we look for any of the other Time Gears." Verity said. "Why don't we go back to Magma Cavern and think this through. It would also probably help if we got a bit of rest."

"How could we rest at a time like this!" Grovyle snapped at her.

"We're not running short on time or anything." Verity said. "And if we rest, we'll be able to fight off those Sableye easier if they happen to find us."

Grovyle thought about this for a minute. "Fine. We can take some time to rest. After that we need to look for more clues to where this desert and Fogbound Lake could be."

The two of them headed back to Magma Cavern. Verity noticed that Grovyle was actually starting to show signs that he was tired, something he hadn't done since they met. Verity was sure that if time was still flowing, that they would have met well over a few days ago, though she couldn't be sure. If it was true though, that means they hadn't slept at all in that time, aside from when they had been unconscious in the Sableye's prison. It was no wonder they were both exhausted. It was nice to call a place home, even though it was a cavern filled with solidified lava.

The two of them entered the deepest part of the cavern. There waiting for them were five of the six Sableye that acted as Dusknoir's underlings.

"We've got you now! Weh-heh-heh-heh!" One of them laughed at the two of them and the rest all laughed after.

"I don't want to deal with this. Let's run for it!" Grovyle shouted to Verity. She nodded and followed after him.

It didn't take long for them to lose the Sableye, but now the both of them were despairing at the thought of having to find another place to stay so they could get some rest.

"I can't believe the Sableye knew about our hiding place." Verity said though her gasps for breath. "What do we do now?"

Grovyle, looked like he was dying to say something, but that he wasn't sure about it. "I think I know a place where we can stay, but I don't really want to go back there. Dusknoir's been there before already, so I don't think he would think I would go back."

Verity turned to him and looked at him suspiciously. "Wait, I thought you said you never saw Dusknoir before, but the way you're talking…"

"I've never seen him!" Grovyle snapped at Verity. "I just heard stories of some things that happened. I heard there was someone living in the forest who wanted to restore time and Dusknoir came and took them away. After that happened everyone moved away and deserted the area. And I was— Well, never mind that. Should we go or not?"

"If you're sure they won't think of looking there, why not?" Verity had a feeling about what Grovyle was talking about, but decided not to ask any more questions. "So where is this place anyway?"

"It's a bit farther away from here to the east." Grovyle said. "We called it the Burned Forest. It burned down a long time ago, but the pokemon never left. Until Dusknoir came, that is."

"Well, lead the way." Verity said.

The two of them carried on, as tired as they were, and made their way towards the Burned Forest. It was a horrible sight when they got there. The trees really were all burned. The trees were taller than any of the others that Verity had ever seen, but the branches were nearly gone from most of them and there were still scorch marks on the trees. The ground was covered in a thick layer of ash.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Verity asked.

"What is?" Grovyle asked nonchalantly.

Verity walked up to one of the trees and ran her hand over one of the scorch marks. "Perfectly preserved. Time stopping is probably a historian's dream, wouldn't you say? Old ruins would never crumble, and fossils would never be buried too deep."

Grovyle glared at her.

Verity turned back towards him and smiled. "Of course, without time moving, history can't be made. Ancient cities can never become ancient. So what history is there to discover after the Planet's Paralysis?"

"So why are you so interested in history?" Grovyle asked.

Verity turned back to the Burned Forest. "It used to be my job, remember? I hated helping Dusknoir, but I couldn't help but think about how amazing the past must have been. Of course, time can be a friend and an enemy. Because of time, we grow old, but we're also born. History becomes history as time goes by, but historians who study ancient cities will never see what they looked like in their prime. It's the double edged sword that keeps the world in motion. Or at least, it used to. Of course, there's still a way to see things the way they used to be."

"I don't suppose any of your ancient cities had a Time Gear hidden in them at one point?" Grovyle asked. "What happened to being tired?"

Verity laughed, though Grovyle didn't see what was so funny. "I guess I forgot. Weird that someone could forget something like being tired."

Verity followed Grovyle deeper into the forest. They made their way to the back of the forest and saw an incredible sight. The dead and burned branches were hanging over the clearing and were covered in so much ash it looked like a tarp that could be put up over a tent to protect from the rain. Although any ran would have washed this canopy away.

"It never rained here." Verity said. "Right after this forest burned down must have been when time stopped. How sad."

"Not after time stopped. When time stopped." Grovyle walked over to a tree in the back. It looked like some strange spikes were sticking off of the branches. It took Verity a moment to realize that they weren't spikes at all, but fire stopped in time. They were slightly transparent, after all they were still fire, but they didn't move. It looked a bit like a glass sculpture of fire.

Verity reached out a hand to touch it, but Grovyle smacked her hand away. "It's still fire, you know! If you touch it you'll get burned!"

"Alright! Alright!" Verity found a large pile of ashes that was left from the branches that hadn't been able to support it and laid down in it. It was still so hard, she might as well have laid on a rock. "Well when we're rested up enough, we've got to start looking for the desert and Fogbound Lake, remember?"

"Of course I do! And I'm still the leader, remember?" Grovyle sat up against the tree and fell asleep almost immediately.

Verity sighed and fell asleep on her mound of ashes. In her sleep she thought for sure she heard pokemon running through the trees, though she figured it must have just been a dream.

When verity woke up, she noticed Grovyle over on the opposite side of the clearing from where he had been sleeping. He was sitting in front of a tree stump which had a book open on top of it.

"What are you reading?" Verity asked as she wiped the sleep from her eyes.

Grovyle slammed the book shut and put it in his bag. "It's nothing. Just something I found on my way out of the library. I'm sure you've already read it."

"Alright then." Verity sat up and stretched. "Wait, I don't remember there being a book in your bag when I was bandaging your burns back in Magma Cavern."

"You just didn't notice. We need to get going. I think I know where the desert is." He started walking towards the forest, but Verity grabbed his arm and held him back.

"There's something you're not telling me!" Verity said. "It has something to do with the person who was taken from this forest by Dusknoir, doesn't it?"

Grovyle looked away. "She was a good friend of mine. Let's just say that. She kept a diary, but none of us ever knew what she wrote in it. I pretended to fall asleep earlier and when I was sure you were asleep I snuck off to find it. It turned out to be a journal she kept of possible connections to the Planet's Paralysis. It mentions a desert in the northwest where she met a friend of hers once. Though it didn't say anything about a Time Gear hidden there at one point, it does give us something to go on. It was probably just a coincidence that she happened to write about the desert in her journal."

Verity nodded. "Thanks for telling me. You know, it's been obvious all along that I've been able to trust you because of my Dimensional Scream, but it's not so easy to tell with other people. I'm glad to know that you really do trust me."

"Whatever." Grovyle turned away and started walking. Verity followed after him, feeling like she had hardly gotten through to him at all. He seemed to be acting weird ever since he first mentioned this forest. Verity didn't really believe him when he said he wasn't around when Dusknoir attacked.

Grovyle looked back and noticed that Verity wasn't moving as fast as usual. Once they were out of the forest, she stopped and turned back to look at it again.

"The double edged sword?" Grovyle asked.

"That's a good way to put it, I guess." Verity said absentmindedly.

"You're the one who thought of it. You said yourself that time was like a double edged sword."

Verity turned back to Grovyle hastily. "Oh, right! I guess my mind must have wandered off for a minute. I was thinking about something else, but it's not really all that important."

"Well if it's not important, let's get going!" Grovyle snapped at her.

The two of them continued walking and eventually started running off towards the desert in the Northwest. There, they would hopefully find the location of another Time Gear and a way to restore the world to the way it was before the Planet's Paralysis.


	4. Chapter 4 The Last Hope

After all of the time that they had spent traveling, Grovyle and Verity finally found the desert where the Time Gear could possibly be. The sand was stiff and hard, frozen in place by time just like everything else in this world.

Verity shivered. "You know, I read that deserts used to be unbelievably hot. Considering what this world is like, I wouldn't really mind having a bit of heat right about now."

"What's the double edged sword here?" Grovyle asked.

"No heat, but no sandstorms either. We'd probably get lost, separated, or blown away if we got caught in a sandstorm."

"Well, good to know there's no need to worry about something like that."

The two of them walked through the desert for hours, climbing sand dune after sand dune. Verity imagined that it would have been suicide for the two of them to go into this desert if time was still moving,

They came across a part of the desert where the sand had sunken in. Tons of sand pits covered the area. The sand seemed to be stopped in motion. It was as if someone took a picture of the sand sinking under the ground.

"What is this?" Grovyle asked.

"Quicksand pits. Before the Planet's Paralysis, anyone who got caught in the current of moving sand would have been sucked underground. People probably avoided this place if they could help it." Verity walked forward and touched the frozen sand.

Almost immediately, the familiar dizziness started. There was a flash of light.

Everything was suddenly so bright. Overhead the sun was shining brightly in a vast blue sky over the huge expanse of desert.

Near the quicksand pits was a pokemon that Verity recognized as Azelf. He was pacing back and fourth while levitating in the air. He looked really worried and was looking around frantically, obviously waiting for something to happen. He kept looking back nervously at the quicksand.

The sand in the middle one of the quicksand pits started to part and Mesprit appeared in the sand.

"Mesprit!" Azelf shouted excitedly. "I'm so glad I'm not too late."

"What's going on, Azelf? I haven't heard from Uxie in some time now." Mesprit said.

"That's why I wanted to talk to you. The Time Gear in Fogbound Lake suddenly exploded or something. I'm not sure; it's hard to describe. Uxie sent me a message by using Telepathy and showed me what was going on. The Time Gear started glowing brighter than usual and its rotation became irregular. Then time started shifting strangely all around the lake. It was like a bomb went off. The Time Gear vanished and time stopped all around the area where it had been. It spread further and further until it got to where Uxie was at the time. The vision he sent me broke off then, so I went to check on him."

"So what happened?" Mesprit asked.

"When I got to the plateau, the fog was gone. The steam in Steam Cave was just frozen in place. And up by the lake…" Azelf shivered. "Uxie was just suspended in midair! His eyes were wide open from when he was showing me what happened by Telepathy. Everything was just frozen in time, including Uxie!"

"Oh no!" Mesprit covered her mouth with her hands, a few tears in her eyes. "What happened in Boulder Quarry wasn't just some freak thing after all! And now Uxie is gone too!"

"But there's something else." Azelf said. "If this could happen to the Time Gear in Fogbound Lake…"

Mesprit nodded and looked away. "It could happen in my Underground Lake, or in your Crystal Lake. Why is this happening? Isn't there anything we can do to stop this!"

Azelf looked down at the ground. "I don't think there is anything we can do. Uxie was frozen in time because he was so close to the Time Gear when it happened. If we stay to guard our Time Gears, it will happen to us too."

"It WILL happen?" Mesprit asked.

"Time is stopping in ever growing areas. No one ever thought that something like time could be broken, so I doubt anyone knew if time could be fixed. I'm afraid we're quite literally running out of time to fix this problem."

"So you just want us to run!" Mesprit snapped at him.

"Please try to control your emotions!" Azelf pleaded with her. "How do you think I feel about this as the being of Willpower? This goes against everything I stand for, but if anyone could have figured it out it was Uxie and he's gone!"

Mesprit was crying even harder now. "Uxie's gone… We can't keep the world in balance on our own. Even if we could figure something out, there'd be nothing we could do…"

There was a second flash of light and the Dimensional Scream ended.

Verity didn't know where she was for a second. She thought she was in that world where Azelf and Mesprit had been. She remembered how happy they had seemed in her first vision of the three of them. Now Uxie was gone for good, and probably Mesprit and Azelf by now too.

"What is it, Verity? What's wrong?"

Grovyle's voice finally snapped her out of it. She couldn't believe that she had actually started crying. "When the Planet's Paralysis started, it was causing everyone a lot of trouble. Not even Uxie, Azelf, or Mesprit were able to find a way to stop it. Uxie ended up being frozen in time. I didn't even know that was possible!"

"It is." Grovyle said. "When time stopped pokemon all over were frozen in time. There were still a lot who weren't, but I heard the population of pokemon in general dropped by more than seventy five percent because of how many were trapped in time."

"It's horrible…" Verity said.

"Some pokemon seemed to be outside of the limitations of time. They might have still grown old and were able to watch the days pass before the Planet's Paralysis, but they didn't seem completely bound by time. Those pokemon, whatever it might have been about them, were able to escape the Planet's Paralysis and live on in this horrible world of darkness, possibly hoping that eventually in some future generation, a pokemon would show up who would save them. But they would never see the sun rise again…"

"I saw the sun this time…" Verity said. "Every other place we've been so far has been in a cave, but this time it was right here in the middle of the desert. There's nothing out here for miles, but it was still so beautiful. I would do anything so you and everyone else would be able to see that…"

Grovyle put a hand on her shoulder and she turned to him. "I'm sorry for how selfishly I was acting in the beginning." He said to Verity. "I was acting stupid and it's amazing that I haven't gotten us both killed by now."

"That all might be true, but why are you saying this now?" Verity asked.

"I'll tell you later. Let's just get back to the Burned Forest and get some rest."

Verity followed Grovyle back to the forest. It had been a tiring journey to the desert, so both of them were eager for a bit of rest. Back at the forest, Verity leaned against the tree, still a little too wound up to want to sit down. Grovyle seemed a bit anxious. While Verity couldn't sit down, he couldn't even stand still.

"Why don't you just tell me what this is about?" Verity asked. "Or maybe you should just relax for a moment."

Grovyle began to say something, but he seemed unable to find the words and gave up. It took a while for Grovyle to be able to form the right words. "Everyone in this forest lived by a philosophy of sorts."

"A philosophy?"

"Something like that. Growing up, everyone in this forest would listen to stories about the world before the Planet's Paralysis. It inspired a lot of pokemon who would grow up to become members of the Planetary Investigators, which you know is illegal and punishable by death."

"So in a way this forest was like a curse?" Verity asked. "Or is that not the point you're trying to get across?"

Grovyle thought for a moment. "In a way, I guess it is. But it was a blessing too. The pokemon in this world have nearly all gone mad, haven't they? It's only a few who are lucky enough to keep their sanity in this world of darkness. But it's not really luck; it's ambition. Dusknoir wants to serve his master, Dialga, and all of the Sableye want to serve Dusknoir. They have ambition because of that. The pokemon in this forest were the same. They all wanted to help restore time. That ambition kept us going."

"It would be a double edged sword just like time, wouldn't it? On one hand, you can still consider yourselves intelligent. Most pokemon who have gone insane can't even speak anymore. It's as if they've become primal forms of themselves."

"I never really thought of them being primal, but I suppose that would be a good word for it. And, of course on the other hand, we're forced acknowledge the fact that we're living a half life in this world." Grovyle sighed. "This in itself is enough to make anyone go insane. If it wasn't for the stories we were told growing up, we would lose hope. But that's what happened. The person who told us the stories was the friend I mentioned to you before."

"The one who wrote that journal with information on the Planet's Paralysis?" Verity asked.

Grovyle nodded. "When Dusknoir took her away from here, he took everyone's hope too. Everyone had given up, including me. Everyone left the forest and traveled the land. It was by complete accident that I found where Celebi lived. Celebi revived that hope. I was lost then. I was too ambitious and just wanted to restore time for my own selfish reasons. I guess in the desert I realized that somewhere along the line I stopped caring about the fame I would get if I helped restore the world to the way it used to be. And I realized that in the beginning, even though you posses the Dimensional Scream, I never really thought that you would be the one to restore time. I just saw myself."

"I understand." Verity said. "It's because of what happened to your friend. She was your source of hope and what tied you to everyone else that lived here, so when she was gone, all of you just drifted apart. I'm guessing all of you must have thought that only one person would be able to restore time."

"But I was the most selfish. I thought I was the closest to her. There was one other person, but he died a long time ago in a horrible accident. While I might have been the closest to her, she still cared about everyone and she would have believed that we should all have worked together. It was only after you came along that I started to see more about how the world came to be the way it was. And still we have no idea how to restore time! There must be a way, I just know it now! If there was no way, it would be impossible to hope at all!"

"Too bad Temporal Tower and the Time Gears were all destroyed a long time ago." Verity said. "It would be so much easier if we could just go back in time and…"

The two of them looked at each other, suddenly understanding that there was a way to fix this after all.

"Go back in time!" Grovyle said. "Celebi's the Time Travel pokemon! Why didn't we think of this before?"

"A better question would be why didn't I think of that before? When we first met at the library I even called her the Time Travel pokemon! How could I have missed that!"

"It doesn't matter now! We know there's a way to fix this! Do you remember what the tablet you broke said on it?"

Verity tried looking back through her memory to remember exactly what it said. "It said that time took shape as the Time Gears turned, and when the Time Gears are placed in Temporal Spire, time would take shape. That would mean that if we went back in time and found the Time Gears, we could place them in Temporal Tower and stop the world from ever being paralyzed. But how many Time Gears are there? There could be hundreds!"

"There are, but to fix Temporal Tower, only five would be needed." Grovyle said.

"How do you know that?"

Grovyle took out the journal that his friend had written and opened it to a bookmarked page. "Her research was often many things, but faulty wasn't one on them. I would trust anything she's written in here one hundred percent. It says here that five Time Gears would be used to regulate the world's balance so that one Time Gear would represent each of the five pokemon who also keep the world in balance. Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit give shape to the spiritual world and keep in it balance, while Dialga and Palkia regulate Time and Space. So like these five pokemon, five Time Gears would also be used."

"Well that's great!" Verity said. "We already know that there are Time Gears in Boulder Quarry, Crystal Cave, and whatever that desert used to be called in the past. That's three Time Gears."

"Hang on, I think there's an old map in here too." Grovyle flipped back towards the beginning of the book. "There are two maps on opposite pages. One is of this world, and the other is of the world prior to the Planet's Paralysis. I can't believe how much it's changed…" Grovyle looked over the two maps. "It looks like it used to be called the Northern Desert."

Do you see anywhere on there called Fogbound Lake?" Verity asked.

Grovyle looked back over the map. "No, I don't. It might have been so well hidden that no one ever found it. While Azelf's hiding place was good and Mesprit's hiding place was pretty good too, since Uxie was the pokemon of Knowledge of course he would have hidden his hiding place the best."

"Well it looks like another dead end." Verity said. "We'll find it eventually, I'm sure. Only two left and we can use the Teleport Gem that Celebi gave us to go back to her forest. Then we can ask her to take us to the past."

"Two left…" Grovyle slumped against a tree and sat on the ground. "I can't believe we've done so much without even realizing it! And if we go to the past, we'll finally see the sun. A world of light. A world where the wind blows."

"There is one more thing though." Verity said.

"What's that?" Grovyle asked.

"We would only be able to enjoy it until our mission is over. That is, if you even want to go through with it after I tell you this." Verity said. "I have nothing to go back to, so I have no problem with it, but if you decide to turn back I will too."

"We've come so far!" Grovyle said. "I'm not going to turn back after all we've done!"

"It would be suicide." Verity said.

"We can do it, I know we can!" Grovyle said.

"No, I mean it will literally be suicide! If we rewrite history so that the Planet's Paralysis never happened, it would be as if we never existed since we were born in this time. We would completely disappear along with everyone else in this world." Verity said. "Of course, most pokemon in this world are primal versions of themselves, so they wouldn't care either way. Other pokemon who still have their senses might want this to happen so they'll be spared from the madness of this world. What about you?"

Grovyle thought about it. "Look around you. This forest has been devastated by the fire. Everyone I used to know has left and my one friend is gone for good. You never had much of a life before so you've never had anything to go back to. I've already lost everything that mattered to me, so I have nothing left. My life is all I have to give, and I'll lose it either way. If we stop now, Dusknoir will find us and if we keep going we'll at least be able to save the world from darkness even if it costs us our lives."

"No going back then." Verity said. "That will be the end of it, but we'll see it through together. This last mission and each other is all we have left."

Grovyle smirked. "That sounded a little to cliché for my liking…" The two of them laughed.

Somehow, they had ended up becoming partners in a mission to save the world. More than that, they had become close friends though neither of them really needed to say it. The two of them decided to get some rest. When they woke up they would continue their search for the Time Gear that they knew existed in Fogbound Lake. Then they would look for a fifth Time Gear. After that, they would go back to Celebi and together they would go back through time and save the world together.


	5. Chapter 5 Enter Dusknoir

Verity yawned. She was tired, but she couldn't get to sleep. Her and Grovyle were friends, right? So why couldn't she just tell him the truth? The guilt was eating away at her, but he just couldn't know.

Grovyle was asleep. He seemed to be having a nightmare. He was tossing uncomfortably in his sleep and mumbling under his breath.

Verity sighed and tried to get some sleep. Just as she was almost asleep, she heard movement in the trees around her. It was the slight patter of feet that she had come to recognize when the Sableye were coming near. Had they found their hiding place?

Verity sat up and grabbed her staff that was laying on the ground next to her. "Who's there!" She shouted.

Grovyle woke with a start somewhere to her right and stood up quickly. "What's going on?"

"There's someone hiding in the trees." Verity stood up slowly, looking all around for a glimmer of a jewel that was a Sableye's eye.

"And what would the two of you be doing here?" An unfamiliar voice asked. "Here I thought this forest had been abandoned for some time."

"Quit hiding and show yourself!" Grovyle yelled.

"Alright! Alright!" A green and peach colored pokemon came out of the forest. He was wearing glasses and gave the impression that he was really smart. "I'm sorry, I didn't think anyone still lived here. Not after that incident with… Oh well, you know."

Grovyle let his guard drop a bit, though he still seemed a bit wary of the stranger. "And who are you?"

"My name is Breloom. Just your average nomad with a love for books and hate for violence." He said while adjusting his glasses.

"Hate for violence?" Verity asked. "But aren't Breloom fighting types?"

"Hmm?" Breloom looked at Verity over the rims of his glasses. "A human! And a knowledgeable one at that. Though I don't suppose you care whether or not you're putting a curse on your friend there."

"Curse?" Grovyle said.

Breloom looked back to Grovyle. "Oh? Could it be? Are you Grovyle, by any chance?"

"How do you know my name!" Grovyle got back into a battle stance.

"Come now, don't you ever listen! I hate violence! I'm not about to attack you. As for how I know your name, that's easy. You've become quite irksome to Dusknoir as of late, and I know I speak for all of us when I say we've been rooting for you all along. Aside from that, your mother never did stop talking about you any time she would come to visit us. Always talking about how much you've grown or how kind or eager to help you were."

"That must have been a long time ago…" Verity said absentmindedly under her breath.

"What was that!" Grovyle snapped at her.

"Anyway, I'm sure your mother wouldn't have told you anything as a way of protecting you, but she was a Planetary Investigator. And so am I." Breloom said.

"You are?" Grovyle asked. "She was…? I don't believe this…" He leaned back against a tree and put a hand to his head as if he were dizzy. "It makes so much sense, but I never liked to think about Planetary Investigators. It seemed like they were the ones that were always causing all of the trouble with Dusknoir."

"Speak for yourself!" Breloom said. "You've been stirring up quite a bit of trouble, whether you know it or not. Dusknoir is up in arms at the thought that someone is actually making some progress in the research. And you of all people, considering how important your mother was. But then I heard the most amazing rumor. A rumor that your mother had somehow survived and that the two of you were now traveling together! Of course, that's not the reason I came. I actually came to look for her journal on the off chance she didn't survive after all. Of course, it's yours to keep since you were her son."

"I can see why you thought she must be alive." Grovyle said. "I'm sure what you've heard was something along the lines of a Grovyle and someone named Verity researching the Planet's Paralysis. Is that right?"

"Yes, that's what I've heard more or less. So where is Verity?" Breloom asked.

"Right here…" Verity said nervously.

Breloom looked to Verity in shock. "Your name is Verity? But I thought…"

"It's a strange coincidence and nothing more that my friend here would happen to have the same name as my mother." Grovyle said. "They're a lot alike, actually. More than just their names are similar."

"Wait, hang on!" Verity said. "Let me get this straight. So Verity was your mom's name, and more than that she was the one who wrote that journal? She wasn't just a friend of yours?"

"No." Grovyle said. "I only made that stuff up because it's hard to talk about. You see, I wasn't off traveling somewhere when it happened, like I said. I was here. And I saw the whole thing. Dusknoir came and he…" Grovyle's voice cut off suddenly. "I couldn't even move because I was so scared! I didn't know what was wrong with me! I just hid in the trees and watched it all happen…"

"I had no idea…" Verity said. "But for Dusknoir to come here in person Verity must have been a really important person, otherwise he would just send Sableye like he did with us. Considering what he's like, your mother must have been an amazing and kind pokemon."

"And defiant." Breloom said. "That hadn't been the first time she had a run in with Dusknoir, but she never gave up."

"Breloom." Grovyle said. "We have a lot of information that might help, but we've hit a dead end in our research. If you could, could you help us find the locations of two Time Gears?"

"I know one location." Breloom said. "In a cave to the far south of here."

"We've already been there." Verity said. "We already knew there was a Time Gear there."

"Oh, well I'm sorry I couldn't help." Breloom said. "Of course, if you come with me I could introduce you to our leader. She knows many things and has seen a lot. I'm sure if anyone would be able to help you, Ninetales would."

"Should we go?" Verity asked Grovyle. "You know she probably knows a bit about your mom too."

Grovyle nodded. Verity thought for the first time ever that he actually looked nervous.

The two of them followed Breloom. As it turned out, where all of the Planetary Investigators were staying wasn't too far from the Burned Forest. They lived in a cave at the bottom of a gully just outside of the forest. They must have passed by it at least a dozen times, but from above the gully it was impossible to see the cave at all.

The gully was filled with water, thought it didn't really matter. Since time was stopped they could easily walk on top of the water, though it still felt strangely cool the way river water usually did.

Ninetales apparently lived in a cave separate from the cave that the rest of them were staying in. Breloom explained that she was actually weaker than she was letting on because of her old age.

Inside the cave they found a pokemon with nine long and shiny tails, fast asleep. She did look older than they expected, though still really beautiful. She woke up and looked towards her visitors, as if their very presence had been what stirred her from her sleep.

"New recruits?" Ninetales asked.

"Possibly." Breloom said. "Meet Grovyle, Verity's daughter. And his partner, ironically also named Verity."

"You don't say!" Ninetales said happily. "I've heard so much about you, Grovyle! And it's nice to meet you too, Verity. Of course, I've heard quite a bit about both of you lately. We would all be happy to work along side the two of you, even if you decide not to join us."

"Actually we could use some help with something." Grovyle said. "My partner Verity happens to have an ability called the Dimensional Scream. We've been using it to find where the Time Gears were hidden in the past. Unfortunately, we've hit a dead end and we can't find any more clues that could help us. We do know that there used to be a Time Gear in a place called Fogbound Lake, but that's the only other one we know about. We need to find the locations of two more Time Gears and Fogbound lake seems like the place to start."

Ninetales nodded. "I do know the location of Fogbound Lake and of two other Time Gears. I never would have imagined that Fogbound Lake would be where a Time Gear used to be hidden."

"Where are the other two?" Verity asked.

"One is in the Sableye's mine and the other is in a cave to the south of here." Ninetales said.

"Too bad." Grovyle said. "We already knew about those. It probably would have helped if we had met you sooner."

"If you don't mind me asking, do you have a plan once you find where the Time Gears are hidden?" Ninetales asked.

"I'm sure you already know this." Grovyle said. "In the past time could be fixed by placing five of the Time gears in the top of Temporal Tower, but in this time that wouldn't work since the Time Gears and Temporal Tower were destroyed. Then Verity realized that the past was actually the key! We happen to know Celebi, the Time Travel pokemon. After finding the location of five of the Time Gears in this world, we plan to ask Celebi to take us to the past so we can prevent the Planet's Paralysis from ever happening."

"There's just one problem." Verity said. "If we change history so that the Planet's Paralysis never happened, we'll disappear. Not just the two of us, everyone from this world. Grovyle and I both agreed that this world is a nightmare to have to live in and that most pokemon who have been able to keep a hold of their common sense would agree. So we're ready to risk anything to see that the Planet's Paralysis never happens."

"I see…" Ninetales said solemnly. "I am the last pokemon in this world who is old enough to remember the world when time still moved. It still seems beautiful, even though my memories of it have faded. I've always dreamed of seeing that just one more time, but if it's our destiny to disappear once everything is fixed, then so be it. We'd all be better off than living in this world. What say you, Breloom? You haven't said anything at all this whole time."

"I couldn't agree more!" Breloom said. "As a pokemon that used to rely on the sun, I can't stand living in this horrid world of darkness!"

"Now, as for the location of Fogbound Lake, it's in a forest to the south." Ninetales said. "Not as far as the cave. In the forest there's a high plateau and on top of the plateau is where Fogbound Lake is hidden. In the past, that area was eternally shrouded in a dense fog that caused people to constantly walk in circles around the lake without realizing. No one could ever find it or figure out how to lift the fog. If you could go there and use the Dimensional Scream to find out how to lift the fog, you'll be able to get it a lot easier when you go to the past."

"Thank you." Grovyle said.

"Now there's just one more thing I would like to take care of." Ninetales said. "Many of the pokemon within our group would no doubt agree, but I would like to see if we have a majority. If you don't mind, I would like to tell the rest of the Planetary Investigators of your plan and ask them all what they think."

"We don't mind at all, right?" Verity said.

Grovyle nodded. "It would be a lot of help if we had more allies."

All of the pokemon gathered on the river outside of the caves. Ninetales stood on a boulder that was sticking out of the river and looking down at all of them. She certainly looked stronger and somehow younger this way. But Verity and Grovyle both couldn't help but wonder if the reason she had to put on this act was because she didn't entirely trust the other pokemon.

"I've called you all together today to discuss some urgent news." Ninetales said. "First off, I would like to say that the Grovyle and Verity we've heard so much about recently have decided to visit us and discuss their plan on restoring time. I would like to start off by telling you that the rumors that the Verity we all knew still being alive are completely false. The Verity traveling with Grovyle is a human."

All of the pokemon started murmuring uneasily. Breloom called them all to order.

"I know what you're all probably thinking." Ninetales continued. "It is true that so far a lot of pokemon partnered up with humans have ended up dying at Dusknoir's hand. This 'curse' has taken the lives of many of our members, but these two work better together than any of our number could have. Even better than the two of them investigating the Planet's Paralysis, they've also found a way to restore time to its original state."

There was an excited murmur from the crowd this time. Breloom called them to order again.

"Unfortunately, this course of action comes with a price." Ninetales said. Everyone was completely quiet now. The tension in the air was so eerie that the hairs on the back of Verity's neck stood on ends. "Their plan involves the Time Gears. In the past, where the Time Gears still exist, there was also once a place called Temporal Tower. Verity and Grovyle plan to find the locations of five Time Gears in total and go back in time. Once in the past, they plan on tracking the Time Gears down in that time and bringing them to Temporal Tower. Once placed at the top of Temporal Tower, the Planet's Paralysis will be stopped from ever happening."

"Genius!" One of the pokemon in the crowd said.

"You said it comes with a price though." Another pokemon said. "What would that be?"

"For who knows how long, this world has been nothing but a curse to us. Though we would all like to see the world the way it was when time still moved, we would also do anything to be freed from this cursed world. I am sure that I speak for nearly everyone here. This is our chance. Since we were born in this time, we exist outside the limits of time. Normally a time paradox would easily prevent us from taking this course of action, but as it is we can still do this at a great cost. If the Planet's Paralysis is prevented from ever happening, it would be like the pokemon living in this world never existed. We would all completely vanish from history."

"What!" The pokemon all started shouting angrily in protest.

"LISTEN TO ME!" Ninetales shouted over all of them, scaring them all into a submissive silence. "We've been selfish; I see this now. All we've ever wanted was to live in a world where time turns the planet, where the wind blows, and where the sun rises every day. But what about our ancestors? In the past, our ancestors went about their daily lives with no idea of the threat that faced the world. Imagine their surprise when the sky turned grey and all movement upon the world just simply stopped. How scared they must have been! The pain they must have felt! This, being the only world we've ever known, has become our home whether we like it or not. Though we might end up disappearing, we will save countless generations of pokemon from the pain and suffering we've endured. And if we never exist we will never have to endure it. The pain we feel, we will never have felt at all. The pokemon of the past would still be happy and be living their peaceful lives."

A few pokemon looked nervously between each other. It was obvious that they were considering what Ninetales was saying.

"I disagree!" Everyone turned in surprise as a lone pokemon stood up and looked defiantly up at Ninetales.

"Delcaty." Ninetales said. "Why did I know that you would be one of the only ones, if not the only one, to speak up against this?"

"Why should we go through with this?" Delcaty asked. "It makes no sense! Our lives might not be perfect in this world, but is it really that bad of an existence? We all know why our ancestors were so scared when the Planet's Paralysis happened! They were too soft and weak to live in a world like this! Those spineless bunch of cowards were just living spoiled and pampered lives before! In this world, we can live! We're strong and independent! What else do we need? Sacrifice our lives for people we never knew, nor will we ever know? It's insane! There's no point!"

"Is that really what you believe?" Ninetales asked. "To sacrifice our lives for our friends and family, for the people who could have been our friends and family, there is no greater existence. If there was another way to fix this, of course I would be against it. After all of our research, though, what have we come up with? Nothing! Verity and Grovyle have found a way! The only way, I believe! We have a plan, we know how to go through with it, so why don't we? What do you think Verity would have done? She would do all she could have to save pokemon in the past from the agony we face! If your heart wasn't so clouded by darkness, maybe you would feel it too!"

"I agree with Delcaty." Another pokemon stood up beside Delcaty.

"You too, Houndour?" Ninetales asked. "Very well, we'll take a vote. Those in favor of this plan?" All of the pokemon except for Delcaty and Houndour raised their paws, claws, and whatever else they used to get around. "It would seem we have a majority. Delcaty, please. You were my partner once. Do you not remember? This world could have been so beautiful if the Planet's Paralysis never happened. Wouldn't you want to see that?"

"Even if I did, if I went along with your plan I wouldn't ever be able to see it." She got up and walked away. Houndour got up, looked around the group hesitantly for a moment, and followed her.

Ninetales sighed when Delcaty walked out of sight. She suddenly looked exhausted and a lot older. She jumped down from the rock and walked back to her cave. The rest of the pokemon did the same except for Breloom.

"Just out of curiosity, what was all of that about the human's curse?" Verity asked Breloom. "If I remember right, you said something like that back in the forest too."

"Yes, well…" Breloom hesitated for a moment. "I wouldn't read into it too much if I were you. Every now and then one of our number would come across a human with a great deal of knowledge. The two of them would travel together to research the Planet's Paralysis, but both of them would end up meeting their fate at the hands of Dusknoir. I think it's because they were humans. He has a human prisoner, you know? She's locked in a library, but no one ever dares go near there. Well, except for Verity…"

Grovyle twitched awkwardly next to Verity when he heard this.

"Verity went to see that human?" Verity asked.

"Yes." Breloom said. "It was actually because of Grovyle."

"Because of me?" Grovyle asked.

"That's right." Breloom said. "Verity went to see that human because you had gotten lost. If you remember, you were separated from your mother once by a band of pokemon who tried to mug her for the items she had with her. Realizing she was too strong, they took you hoping to get something for a ransom. So she went to that human in the library to ask for help to find you, thinking since she was said to know so much that she would know the band of pokemon thieves who kidnapped you. The human was really young, in fact I think even by now the two of you would be the same age. In spite of her being no older than a little kid, she did know where the band of pokemon thieves were so Verity was able to track them down and rescue you. But there was one thing that was bothering her. She never told anyone in the forest about that human because she was Dusknoir's prisoner. She told all of us here about that human and asked that we never told you about her unless you started researching the Planet's Paralysis first. Apparently that human didn't even have a name. She just called her the nameless human. Unfortunately, no one dares go near that library in an attempt to save her out of fear of Dusknoir. She's probably still there. Verity had really taken a liking to her though. Even left some fruit for her before heading home."

"The Meganium!" Verity said excitedly. "That was her!"

"Wait, what?" Breloom asked.

"Verity is the human from the library." Grovyle said. "Celebi and I found her there and she practically begged us to get her away from there." He turned to Verity. "But why? Why didn't you ever tell me it was my mother who asked you to find that kid? Or that the kid was me?"

"I didn't know." Verity said. "She never said her name and she never told me what kind of pokemon her son was. I just figured it was a Chikorita since she was a Meganium. Likewise, I didn't know until now that your mom was a Meganium so I thought she was another Grovyle."

"If it wasn't for you, who know's what would have happened to me?" Grovyle said awkwardly. "I remember her coming to rescue me. I did ask after I had gotten a little older how she found me. She just said it was a mother's intuition."

"Well, that would be partially right since she knew to ask me." Verity said. "Dusknoir found out though. I didn't know she was a Planetary Investigator, but he knew and he got mad after finding out I had helped one. That's probably why she never told me her name."

"So you were that human." Breloom said. "I can't believe it. You just happened to pick Verity's name as the name to go by too."

"Yea…" Verity looked away from the two of them.

"Something wrong?" Grovyle asked.

"No, nothing." Verity said suddenly. "I was just thinking about how awkward it is. We just happened to meet and become friends and your mother was the one who I named myself after without even knowing it. I know I said I read the name in a book, and that's true, but it still seems strange, doesn't it?"

Grovyle nodded. "In any case, we know where Fogbound Lake is now. We should go and find a way to lift the fog, just like Ninetales suggested.

"I'll come with you!" Breloom said. "The two of you have really started to interest me. I'd love to find out more about the two of you. And since I'm familiar with the place that Ninetales told you about I could help guide you there."

"Why not?" Grovyle said.

The three of them walked to the place in the south that Ninetales had described. They found and old withered forest. In the middle of it was a giant, oddly shaped plateau sticking out of the ground. The three of them made their way towards the plateau.

"There used to be a path up there, but we think it was destroyed when time stopped." Breloom said. "There is something a bit interesting up ahead though."

By the base of the plateau was a damaged statue. The plaque on the front of the statue was barely legible.

"What's this?" Grovyle said. "It's written in footprint runes. That sort of language hasn't been written in a long time, even before the planet was paralyzed."

"Can you read it?" Verity asked. "I've never seen this type of writing before. I think a lot of the books in the library were actually translated so others could read them without having to learn other languages."

"Yes, it's not that hard." Grovyle said. "'Reignite the life that burned within Groudon, then the sky shall blaze with the sun's heat. The path to treasure shall be revealed.' That's it! It's here! It's here! The path to treasure must be the path to the Time Gear!"

"Let's see if it's true." Verity placed a hand on the Groudon statue. It took a while longer than usual, but the same dizziness started up again. Then there was the usual flash of light. Verity was in the past. The sun was bright. Waterfalls were pouring down all around. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen! The water was shimmering in the sun and the Groudon statue looked brand new and was watching over the land like a stone guardian with a pair of glowing red eyes.

"This place is perfect!" Uxie said. "By hiding the plateau from view in the fog, no one will ever be able to find the Time Gear hidden there." He floated up to the statue and took out a red gem that had been embedded in its chest. The eyes stopped glowing and a thick fog suddenly rolled it. It looked so mysterious. "The only way to get to the Time Gear now is by placing the Drought Stone in Groudon's heart. That will lift the fog, but even if they do get to the lake I'll take their memories of the lake away. Unless they're quick enough to knock me out, the Time Gear will never be stolen!"

There was another bright flash and the vision ended. Verity was a bit disappointed. It had been the most beautiful vision she had had so far and it was definitely the shortest.

"Did you discover anything?" Grovyle asked.

Verity nodded. "I think Uxie was a bit arrogant about his intelligence. He actually just said out loud the way to get rid of the fog. There's a red stone hidden somewhere in this forest called the Drought Stone. You put it in the Groudon statue's chest to lift the fog. It's like the statue's heart."

"It does make sense." Breloom said. "Groudon's ability makes the sun shine harshly, so that would explain the part when it says 'the sky shall blaze with the sun's heat'."

"I see. Place the Drought Stone in Groudon's heart. That lifts the fog!" Grovyle turned to Verity. "Very well done! Good job, partner!"

Verity smiled. Even though Grovyle was happy that they were so close to being able to save the world, to him Verity seemed to be a bit down in spite of her smile.

"Something wrong?" He asked Verity.

"No. I guess it's just hard to believe you're that same rude Grovyle who wanted to take me prisoner when we first me." Verity said. "It's kind of weird thinking about that. And calling me 'partner'? What happened to you being the boss?"

Grovyle laughed, feeling somewhat embarrassed. Maybe he had imagined it after all.

"Shall we head back now?" Breloom asked. "There's no point in us sticking around here."

"Oh, there's one more thing." Verity said. "Uxie has the ability to take away people's memories of Fogbound Lake. He said that anyone hoping to get to the Time Gear would have to knock him out fast enough to avoid losing their memories."

"Knock him out?" Grovyle asked. "If that's what needs to be done, fine. It doesn't seem right, but if it's the only way then we have no choice."

"Celebi said before that we were in too far over our heads when you wanted to take me prisoner." Verity said. "But when time is restored we'll disappear. We have to agree to do whatever it takes to save the world from the Planet's Paralysis, even if it means making sacrifices. Even if we do end up fighting against Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit."

Grovyle nodded. "Either way we would just have to knock them out. Nothing more serious than that."

"Right." Verity said.

The three of them headed back to the Planetary Investigators' secret hideout. As soon as they stepped onto the river, something seemed wrong. It was as quiet as ever, but the atmosphere has a strange feel to it some how. The three of them looked around. Something was definitely wrong.

"Weh-heh-heh-heh!" It was that familiar laugh that they were used to by now. The Sableye jumped down from the rocks and surrounded them. Then another figure seemed to appear out of thin air. He was tall and menacing with glowing yellow patterns on his arms and stomach.

"Dusknoir!" Verity started shaking and hid behind Grovyle.

Dusknoir smirked and the Sableye started to close in on the three of them. "Well, well, well. If it isn't my little human friend. Don't any of you try to run. This time, there is no escape."


	6. Chapter 6 Fire of Hope

The Sableye were closing in around them. There didn't seem to be any way to escape.

"What do we do!" Grovyle said frantically.

"You two have to get out of here!" Breloom said. "I'm not much of a fighter, but I can at least hold them odd while you make a run for it!"

"We can't just leave you!" Grovyle said. "Verity, say something!"

Verity seemed too scared to say anything. She was still staring in fear up at Dusknoir.

"You two are our last hope." Breloom said. "No doubt they've already captured the others. I couldn't stand the thought of me getting away when the rest of them have been captured! It was always going to be you two who saved the world! You have to go!"

"Breloom…" Grovyle said. "If we go and you're captured, won't you…?"

Breloom smiled and nodded. "I know. But it's like Verity said. We have to do whatever it takes. If my part in this is helping the two of you escape, then I'll fearlessly play my part!"

"Thank you!" Grovyle said.

"Now go!" Breloom shouted.

The Sableye attacked. There was a blinding flash from Breloom's tail. Grovyle grabbed Verity by the wrist and ran. They heard the Sableye and Dusknoir all shout in surprise from the flash of light. If Breloom tried to run, the light would fade and they would spot him. There was no way for him to escape.

Verity and Grovyle didn't dare look back. They ran across the river and across the land.

"Where can we go?" Verity asked. "They'll be searching the area, won't they? We can't go back to the forest."

"I know." Grovyle said darkly. "Breloom sacrificed himself so we could escape… We have to do whatever it takes to avoid getting caught."

"Maybe we should go back to that prison that they trapped us in before?" Verity asked. "They're sure to take everyone there, aren't they? We might be able to save them before it's too late."

Grovyle nodded and the two of them started running in that direction. They didn't have anywhere to go now. They still didn't know where the last Time Gear might be. Ironically, the prison was the only place that gave them a small bit of hope.

They entered the mountain range where the prison was hidden. They found a cliff on the side of a mountain facing the prison. They crouched down on the ledge so there would be no chance of them being spotted.

"I heard there's a similar prison like this near the place where Celebi lives." Grovyle said. "The stockade's down there is where most of the traitors spend the last few minutes of their lives. Those Sableye and their vicious claws…"

Verity looked over at Grovyle. He was shaking violently and has tears in his eyes.

"You're a lot stronger now than you were when Dusknoir attacked your mom." Verity said to him. "You couldn't do anything before, but now we can help to save them together."

"I'm not sure if I can." Grovyle said. "I can't go through that again."

"Well if you want to prevent going through that again, we had better get down there." Verity pointed towards the stockade. Ninetales was being led, blindfolded, by the sableye. She looked older than ever. "If you don't want something like this to happen again, then you have to at least try. If you try then at least you'll know whether you were capable of stopping it or not!"

Grovyle nodded. "Let's go!"

The two of them ran down the side of the cliff towards the stockade. It took a while for the Sableye to notice anything. By the time Verity and Grovyle reached them, they had Ninetales tied up to one of the poles in the stockade and had taken the blindfold off.

Grovyle used Leaf Blade a few times and easily knocked out the six Sableye. It didn't seem that difficult at all, but it was obvious that it was Dusknoir that he was worried about.

"Such amazing power." Ninetales said. "You're definitely a lot like your mother."

"Are you alright?" Grovyle asked as he started to untie the ropes.

"You shouldn't be here." Ninetales said. "I saw Breloom right before they led me here. He told me that he had himself captured to save the two of you. Why didn't you run!"

"We couldn't just run away while everyone else was captured and…" Verity's voice trailed off, but it was obvious what she had meant.

"You're missing the point here!" Ninetales said. "We're all going to disappear one way or another. Why would you risk your freedom and your lives for a pokemon destined to disappear anyway?"

"You… You don't understand!" Grovyle said.

"I think I do." Ninetales said. "You want some form of revenge for what Dusknoir did to you and your mother. That's understandable, but what you're doing is still reckless."

Grovyle finally got the ropes untied and Ninetales fell to the ground. Verity rushed over to help her up.

"Are you alright?" Verity asked.

"Yes, I'm fine…" Ninetales struggled a bit to get up. Her bones seemed old brittle and she didn't seem as strong as she had portrayed herself to be to the Planetary Investigators.

Verity looked around them, suddenly in a panic. There were mountains on either side and the only other way to go was through the prison itself where they were likely to run into Dusknoir. "There's no way she can get out of here…" she said to Grovyle.

"What are you…?" Grovyle looked around and suddenly he realized it too. "No! I don't believe this!"

"You have to go now." Ninetales said. "Listen, I'll be alright. If the two of you can change history, I'll disappear anyway. We all will. The least I can do is keep Dusknoir occupied with the task of getting rid of me for a bit longer. All of the Sableye are here. You can go back to the forest for now."

"It seems wrong to leave you here…" Verity said. "I knew it was reckless to try to rescue you or anyone else, but now that we're here it just doesn't seem right to leave someone so defenseless behind."

"Defenseless!" Ninetales said with a defiant grin. "Who said anything about me being defenseless? With age comes wisdom and with that wisdom my psychic powers are greater than anyone else's! Dusknoir won't get to me that easily!"

Grovyle nodded. "Then we have no choice. I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Ninetales said. "But before you go, there's something you should know. Delcaty and Houndour were the ones who gave away our location."

"What!" Both Verity and Grovyle said at the same time.

"I knew they were rotten, but I don't believe this!" Verity said.

"Well what do you expect?" Ninetales asked. "Everyone else was prepared to sacrifice Delcaty and Houndour's lives, or at least that's the way they saw it. Dusknoir promised them a reward if they were telling the truth. Their reward wasn't exactly what they had expected it to be. They were the first two to go."

"That Dusknoir is unbelievable!" Grovyle said. "Verity, let's stop the Planet's Paralysis together! And if we happen to get a chance to fight Dusknoir along the way…"

"All the better!" Verity finished for him.

"He's coming." Ninetales said. "You have to leave now before you get caught. And promise me you won't look back until you're out of the mountains!"

Verity and Grovyle both nodded.

"We promise, but it won't be easy…" Verity said.

Grovyle and Verity ran for it. They heard Dusknoir's surprised voice, no doubt after seeing the freed Ninetales and his minions all collapsed on the ground. Ninetales laughed, no doubt telling him some phony story about having some extraordinary power that let her escape and defeat all of the Sableye. Grovyle smiled. He couldn't help but think that it was something that his mother might have done.

They had promised not to look back until they got out of the mountains, but they didn't look back until they got back to the forest. Maybe the two of them were subconsciously thinking that this was a sign of their gratitude and loyalty towards Ninetales. Whatever the reason, when they got to the forest the two of them stood there staring in the direction of the mountains, which were far out of sight by now. They knew that by now, Ninetales would be gone for good.

They both decided that they should take what little time they had before Dusknoir found them to rest. They still had no idea where the fifth Time Gear could be or if there was anyone left they could ask for help. They were on their own again.

Grovyle woke up the next morning and saw Verity standing over by the burning tree, looking at the fire that had been frozen it time.

He walked over and stood next to her. "Awake already?"

"Pokemon that exist outside the boundaries of time." Verity said. "I think it was their spirit that saved them. Ninetales has such a brightly burning spirit… And everyone else we've met too…" she was holding back tears in her eyes. "They add what little bit of life there still is to this world. This flame may be frozen and lifeless, it doesn't even emit any light any more, but I'm sure that Ninetales's fire had a lot of life in it. She had to live in this world longer than anyone but her spirit never wavered, even for the slightest moment."

"She said she was the last pokemon that saw the world before time stopped." Grovyle said absentmindedly.

Verity shook her head. "That was a lie. I could tell. She probably let that slip to everyone just to give them a bit of hope."

Grovyle knew that what she said was true.

"Fire of hope…" Verity muttered under her breath.

"What's that?"

"Something from a song." Verity said. "I can't remember the words. I didn't bother memorizing them since I couldn't read music. Still it seems fitting. There was something in it about a world of darkness and a fire of hope that was dying. It was written a long time ago, before the Planet's Paralysis, but it seems fitting now."

"It really does." Grovyle said. Their hope wouldn't die with Ninetales though. He was sure of that.

Verity stared at the frozen fire. "It's not over. It can't be." She absentmindedly reached out and grabbed the burning branch.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Grovyle grabbed her arm and pulled her hand away from the fire.

A sudden dizziness washed over Verity. There was a bright flash of light. A blinding light was dazzling her. It was almost blinding. Finally her eyes focused. The forest was whole and the trees were enormous. Wind was blowing the grass and the leaves on the trees and the sunlight was shining down into the forest though the leaves. Then, at the far side of the clearing, she saw it!

"It's here!" Verity said as soon as the Dimensional Scream ended. "The whole time the Time Gear's hiding place has been here!"

"What!" Grovyle said. "Are you serious! This is great! Finally! We've found it!"

"We've been staying here for so long now! I can't believe we never knew!" She looked down at the burn on her hand. "It really is the fire of hope… This fire might have destroyed the forest, but it's what led to me having that vision…"

"Verity! The Teleport Gem!"

"Oh, right!" Verity took the gem from around her neck. Celebi had told her to crush it in her hand when she wanted to use it. But just as she was about to break it, she felt something large and powerful hit her in the side and knock her against a tree. The force of the blow knocked the Teleport Gem right out of her hand.

"That's enough of that." Dusknoir said. He had appeared out of nowhere and attacked Verity. The Sableye surrounded the two of them and quickly tied up Verity. "You two have given me and Master Dialga a lot of trouble. Listen to me now, Grovyle. Try to escape and Verity will be the one to pay the price."

One of the Sableye had its claws against her neck. Verity was afraid that even breathing too hard would be enough to cause a cut. She held her breath. She had always been terrified of Dusknoir, but if she didn't do something, Grovyle would be in trouble. Apparently Verity was no longer worth enough to them to risk letting Grovyle go free.

"Fine…" Grovyle said. "I'll go with you, just don't hurt her. I know you still want her to do all of your research for you."

"Oh it's much more than that." Dusknoir said. "But you'll find out about that in due time. Now, Sableye. Tie up Grovyle. Make sure there's no way he can escape this time."

The Sableye did as Dusknoir told them to do. Then Dusknoir picked up the Teleport Gem. "You know, Grovyle, it's really something. Both you and your mother will die the same way. She died protecting you, knowing that I didn't want the son of a traitor to live, and now you will die protecting your friend. But before that, let's see where this little gem will take us, shall we?"


	7. Chapter 7 To The Past

Dusknoir crushed the Teleport Gem in his hand. A bright light surrounded him, Grovyle, Verity, and the Sableye. The Sableye were all shrieking in fear, no doubt terrified of light after Breloom momentarily blinded them with his Flash.

The light cleared. Grovyle looked around and saw that they were in Dusk Forest. Luckily, Celebi didn't seem to be around. Verity was laying on the ground next to him. It seemed that she had fainted when they teleported. There didn't seem to be any way out of this, but at least Celebi would be able to get away. Maybe it was like she said and she really couldn't be caught.

"It looks like no one's here." Dusknoir said after a while of waiting. He turned to the Sableye. "Three of you stay here. You know what Celebi looks like. When you see her, ambush her and bring her to the prison. Then we'll get rid of all of them together and be rid of this problem once and for all."

"Weh-heh-heh-heh!" The Sableye all jumped with excitement. Three of them hid in the trees while the other three stayed with Dusknoir.

Dusknoir picked up Verity and half dragged her along the ground as the three remaining Sableye led Grovyle. Grovyle had walked and ran farther than this with Verity, but it felt like they were moving so slow. If time wasn't stopped before, it definitely felt like it was now.

They finally arrived at the prison. The Sableye tied both Verity and Grovyle up on the poles. Grovyle was tied up so tightly that he couldn't move a fraction of an inch.

"You said you weren't going to hurt Verity!" Grovyle shouted at Dusknoir. "You said you needed her for something, so why have you tied her up here?"

Dusknoir didn't answer for a while. It was obvious that he was just trying to get Grovyle worked up. It was working. "Well there comes a time when everyone has to admit to the things they've done. In Verity's case, there have been a few times like that. I don't think she likes it anymore. The fact that so much hate has been directed towards her over the years has finally gotten to her."

"You know what she's been doing, so what is there for her to admit to you?" Grovyle shouted. "Maybe if you were a bit nicer she wouldn't have betrayed you and run away!"

"Nice?" Dusknoir laughed. "And how far does nice get you? The only time your mother ever acted nice around me was when she was saving your life. That was the only time she ended up dead, wasn't it?"

Grovyle was struggling as hard as he could against the ropes, trying to break free. Dusknoir laughed again.

"Oh, will you look at that?" Dusknoir said. "It looks like our friend is finally waking up."

Verity looked up at Dusknoir, a bit confused obviously. She finally realized who she was staring at and what exactly was going on. She started struggling, but she was tied just as tightly as Grovyle was.

"Please, try to calm down." Dusknoir said. "You should be commended for all you've done for us."

Dusknoir gestured to one of the Sableye. The Sableye jumped at Verity. At first Grovyle thought it was going to attack her, but then it slashed at the ropes and cut her free. It jumped back to give Verity a little room to stand up and regain her balance. Grovyle looked back from Verity, to the Sableye that had freed her, and to Dusknoir and the two other Sableye. He realized that he was the only one tied up now. Then he realized what Dusknoir had said: "You should be commended for all you've done for us."

"What's going on!" Grovyle shouted at Dusknoir.

"What's the matter, Grovyle?" Dusknoir asked in a mocking voice. "I thought you wanted me to free Verity."

"Verity?" Grovyle turned his head as much as he could while tied up in her direction.

Verity averted her eyes from everyone. Dusknoir, the Sableye, and even Grovyle.

"What's this about?" Grovyle shouted louder than ever.

Dusknoir laughed again. This time, the three Sableye joined in. "You've been conned, that's what. A library filled with information from all over the world? A human who has done extensive research on the Planet's Paralysis? Do you really think that no one would want to check it out for themselves? That you were the first?"

"What do you mean?" Grovyle asked.

"What was your name last time again?" Dusknoir asked Verity.

Verity didn't answer at first. "Luna."

Dusknoir smirked. "And the time before that?"

She still wasn't looking directly at anyone. "Lily."

Dusknoir turned back to Grovyle. "Amazing how much a name can change a person, isn't it? Change their name and that person would never be recognized, even if they're the only human in a world full of pokemon."

Dusknoir stared between him and Verity, not understanding what was going on at all.

"Do you still need me to spell it out for you?" Dusknoir asked. "Funny, isn't it, that the whole time you were together she hasn't mentioned anything she knows about the Planet's Paralysis?"

Grovyle hadn't even thought of that. Verity was being forced to research the Planet's Paralysis for Dusknoir, so why hadn't she told Grovyle anything she knew? "How do you know that!" Grovyle asked.

Dusknoir laughed again. "Because she doesn't know anything about the Planet's Paralysis! I've made sure of that! Do you really think I want to have someone else learn everything for me, just for them to use the information against me? Of course not! It was all a trick! You weren't the first pokemon to 'rescue' her from that library!"

"What!" Grovyle looked over at Verity again.

Verity glanced up at him with a mix of nervousness and guilt. She quickly averted her eyes again.

"Do you see what I meant now when I said that she's had to admit to some things she's done before? And that afterwards hate had been directed towards her? I wasn't talking about her admitting things to me, I meant her admitting things to gullible pokemon like yourself! And how successful you've been this time, my little friend! Tracking down the location of the Planetary Investigators' hideout, leading Grovyle around thinking he had a slimmer of a chance of restoring time, and even getting that Teleport Gem to lead me to Celebi. You've done well."

"NO!" Grovyle shouted. "THAT CAN'T BE TRUE! VERITY'S NOT THAT KIND OF PERSON! SHE WOULD NEVER HELP SOMEONE LIKE YOU, DUSKNOIR!"

"It's always the same way." Dusknoir said. "So much fun to crush a pokemon's hope right before their final moments. It is true, Grovyle. Surely you've heard about a supposed 'curse' that comes with having a human partner? Every pokemon that's ever investigated the Planet's Paralysis and had a human partner ended up meeting their end here. Why do you think that is?"

Grovyle didn't want to believe it.

"That's why I was so interested when Breloom mentioned that supposed curse." Verity said quietly. "All of those humans… They were all me, just going by a different name each time…"

"WHAT? VERITY!" Grovyle was stunned. He hung hid head and looked straight at the ground. It was one thing for Dusknoir to say those things… Verity had admitted to it… Grovyle's best friend was really a con sent to get rid of him and anyone else researching the Planet's Paralysis. Suddenly so much made sense.

"Verity, or whoever you are." Grovyle said. "Tell me which side of the double edged sword you would be on?"

Verity's lip twitched, as if she were about to smile, but it passed. "Does it matter? Either way, everyone gets hurt in the end. I'm sorry Grovyle, I really am!"

"Yea right…" Grovyle looked away from her. "And that first mission we went on? That 'trust building mission' you wanted us to go on together? That was fake?"

"What else would it be?" Verity asked. "My job is to learn everything I can about what traitors know before leading them into a trap set by Dusknoir. For that they need to trust me. I come up with a mission like that every time."

"I don't believe this…" Grovyle said. "I should have seen it. All of those times you seemed distracted by something… Like when we were headed to the desert! I brought up that double edged sword, but you acted like you didn't know what I meant! You said that you were thinking about something else but it wasn't important! This is what you were talking about, wasn't it?"

Verity sobbed and turned away. "I'm sorry, Grovyle. I really am, you have to believe me. If only I was a little stronger, I would stand up to Dusknoir, but I just can't…"

"What are you talking about?" Grovyle asked. "You've been working with him from the start! You're not sorry about anything!" Grovyle looked up at Dusknoir. "You said you were going to get rid of me, didn't you! Why not just get it over with!"

Dusknoir laughed. "Oh, but this is so much fun! But if you insist. You are my honored guest here after all. My little human friend, don't you want to watch this? I remember you used to love watching. The excitement in your eyes said it all."

"My name is… Verity." She said to Dusknoir.

Dusknoir stared at her, a bit confused for a moment, then shrugged. "If that's what you prefer. I admit, it was a nice touch naming yourself after Grovyle's mother. It did catch me off guard though. When my Sableye told me it was Verity who was helping him, for a second I though somehow she had escaped again. Very clever. The emotional blow was probably even worse than usual!"

"I don't believe you…" Grovyle said. "I trusted you. You were my friend…"

"I feel the same way…" Verity said under her breath.

"It isn't the first time you've grown attached to a traitor." Dusknoir said. "Remember what I told you then? Let it go. They shouldn't have betrayed Master Dialga's wishes in the first place."

Verity nodded.

"Now, Sableye!" Dusknoir shouted. "Get rid of this traitor once and for all!"

All three Sableye ran towards Grovyle, their claws bared. Grovyle closed his eyes and waited for the impact. He heard a cry of pain from in front of him. He opened his eyes and saw Verity standing in front of him. She had taken all of the Sableyes' attacks for him!

"WHAT'S THIS!" Dusknoir bellowed. "YOU TRECHEROUS LITTLE…! HOW DARE YOU BETRAY ME!"

"I didn't know how to feel at first." Verity said in a weak voice. The Sableye had retreated from uncertainty, but she was still badly cut up. In spite of this, she stood there between Grovyle and the Sableye, refusing to move. "Celebi told me to help Grovyle. I thought there was something in him that she saw that I didn't notice. Sure enough, I realized on our first mission together that there was a better side to him; a side most pokemon in this twisted world don't have. He protected me from an enemy's attack, in spite of being at a type disadvantage. That's when I started to feel so uncertain. After that, my Dimensional Scream ability activated for the first time. It's an ability that can only be activated when standing by a trusted partner."

"I don't believe this!" Dusknoir said. "After all I've done for you, you would betray me like this?"

"You gave me a place to live and gave me a chance to play an important role and really do something with my life." Verity said. "So did Grovyle. But he did more than that. You did those things for me just to use me for your own underhanded tricks! Grovyle and I have worked as mutual partners to help pokemon everywhere! There's been enough death already! It ends now!"

"Is that really how you feel?" Dusknoir asked. Verity still refused to move. "Fine. Sableye! Get rid of this traitor first!"

The Sableye attacked her fiercely. No matter how badly hurt she got, she didn't move. She might as well have been tied up like Grovyle was.

Grovyle kept struggling and eventually managed to free an arm. He used Leaf Blade and cut the ropes away. Then he attacked and knocked out all three of the Sableye. Verity collapsed on the ground. Grovyle faced towards Dusknoir.

"Just you and me, Dusknoir!" Grovyle shouted. "Give me your best shot!"

Dusknoir used Shadow Punch. Grovyle dodged and used Dig. He came up from under ground behind Dusknoir and used Leaf blade. Dusknoir used Ice Punch and knocked him across the stockade. Grovyle struggled to his feet and used Quick Attack. The two of them were fighting as hard as they could, yet they seemed perfectly matched. Dusknoir hit him with another Shadow punch. Grovyle attacked with Leaf Blade, but Dusknoir was able to dodge and counter with another Ice Punch. Part of Grovyle's arm was frozen now. He jumped back to avoid any of the attacks that Dusknoir was planning on using.

"What's the matter?" Dusknoir asked. "Getting tired already? Just give up now!"

"Never!" Grovyle attacked with Mega Drain. He was able to hurt Dusknoir and restore some of his own energy. He used Leaf Blade, but missed again. Dusknoir used Shadow Punch. Grovyle dug under ground again and came up on Dusknoir's left. This time he was able to land a hit. He staggered back and fell to the ground.

Grovyle wasn't far from Verity. He ran over and picked her up and ran as fast as he could towards the exit before Dusknoir could pick himself up from the last attack.

Dusknoir was chasing after him soon. Normally Grovyle would have stayed to fight, but both he and Verity were pretty badly hurt. He ran and tripped when he entered a cave. He fell into a deep chasm.

Dusknoir stood at the top of the chasm and looked down. "There's no way he could have survived that." He started to float down to the bottom of the chasm just to make sure. When he got there, he looked just in time to see Grovyle rounding a corner and running out of sight.

"I should have suspected as much from a pokemon that lives in the forest." Dusknoir said. "If it were any other pokemon, they'd be dead." He started to follow after them.

Grovyle ran as fast as he could with Verity on his back. She was still conscious, but was so badly hurt that she wouldn't be able to help at all.

Luckily the area started to seem a bit familiar. He recognized the hill he had crossed the last time he had gone to visit Celebi. They were close to her forest now. He ran though the forest while avoiding as many enemies as he could and eventually came to Celebi's forest clearing.

There he saw the most unusual sight: Three Sableye were laying unconscious on the ground and above them floated a pink fairy-like pokemon, drinking what smelled like apple juice.

As soon as she saw Grovyle she started to cough on it and had to she her drink down. "My dear Grovyle! And Verity too! What's happened to you?"

"We can't talk about that now." Grovyle said. "Dusknoir's coming."

"Don't worry about him." Celebi said. "It will be very hard for him to find this place. After all, he never has before. Even though he was teleported here along with the two of you because of the Teleport Gem, the ever changing dungeon will be enough to confuse him."

"I hope you're right." Grovyle said.

"Celebi…" Verity said in a faint voice. "I'm sorry…"

"Don't talk now!" Celebi said to Verity. "Hang on, you two. I'll have you patched up in no time!" She used her Heal Bell to help heal their wounds and then brought them a couple of berries, including an Aspear berry to heal Grovyle's frozen arm.

"You seem upset." Celebi said to Grovyle.

"Verity's a traitor." He said.

"I saved you didn't I?" Verity's voice was still very faint even though her wounds were healed now.

"That doesn't change the fact that…! All of those pokemon… before me… AND WE WERE JUST A COUPLE MORE VICTEMS TO YOU!" Grovyle snapped at her. "I trusted you and this is how you repaid us!"

"Hold on!" Celebi said. "I'm afraid I don't follow what's going on here. Could you please explain?"

"I've done some horrible things." Verity said. "Grovyle, I'm sorry. Please, you have to forgive me!"

Grovyle turned away from her. "I'm sorry, but I can't. Because of you, Ninetales… and everyone else…" he turned to Celebi. "Verity was working for Dusknoir from the start. She pretends to be people's partner and then leads them into Dusknoir's trap, each time using a different name so no one would catch on."

"Is that true?" It was obvious that Celebi had been really taken aback by this. "Verity, it couldn't be true!"

"It… yea." Verity said. "Listen, Grovyle. Before you came along, there was someone else. Like all of the others, I led him into a trap. Dusknoir told him that I was a traitor and I just stood there smiling, expecting to see him suffer from this revelation like all the others. But he didn't. He said he forgave me for everything I did and that he wasn't mad at me." Some tears formed in Verity's eyes. "After everything I did, he still didn't hate me. Everyone else had always hated me whenever they found out I had tricked them. That's why I was loyal to Dusknoir. He never acted that way. He sometimes got mad, but he never actually hated me. But he just smiled that entire time. Even when the Sableye attacked him, he was still smiling. The last thing he said was 'I was lucky to have known you. Even if you didn't see me as a friend, I have never met anyone like you. I know it wasn't just an act.'"

"But it was, wasn't it?" Grovyle snapped at her. Celebi was still staring in disbelief.

"That's what I thought too." Verity said. "Until I met you. I really trusted you, unlike anyone else. Even Dusknoir. That's why I only then found out about the Dimensional Scream. I kept thinking about it as we traveled together. I kept reminding myself that you two were nothing but traitors, but we kept getting closer. At one point I realized that if I had to choose between you and Dusknoir, choosing you would be the easiest thing I've ever done. I still couldn't tell you though. For the first time I finally admitted to myself that I didn't like it when people hated me. I couldn't tell you for fear that you were the same. I was scared of losing… the only friend I've ever had…" She was crying heavily now and was having trouble speaking through her sobs.

Grovyle suddenly felt pity for her.

"The double edged sword I was thinking about before we left for the desert was friendship. It was the greatest thing ever, but it would hurt so much if anything happened to you. When we were caught by Dusknoir, I thought it was all over. I though I might as well just give up. But I didn't want my only friend to hate me, and I thought that if anything I could keep you alive even if it meant sacrificing myself. Grovyle, I'm so sorry! For everything! I admit at first I was determined to lead the both of you into a trap, but I've changed! I've—."

Grovyle cut her off. "That's enough. You've said enough."

"I don't think I have…" Verity said. "Dusknoir found me when I was really young. What he taught me was all I had ever known."

"Even if he hadn't forced you, it was all you had ever known." Grovyle said. "You would have been forced into it no matter what."

Celebi was crying almost as hard as Verity was.

"Are you still ready to risk everything for this world?" Grovyle asked.

Verity nodded. "I wish I could just forget everything about my life, but if I disappear that would be the next best thing. I'll dedicate the rest of my life to restoring time. Neither of us has nothing to go back to, so what choice do we have?"

"Wait, does that mean you've found a way?" Celebi asked.

"We have!" Grovyle said in a determined voice. "Celebi, we'll need your help for this."

Grovyle explained about how they had tracked down the locations where five Time Gears had been hidden in the past using Verity's Dimensional Scream. He told her that they needed her ability to travel through time to go back in time to collect the Time Gears and take them to Temporal Tower. He explained that once they were in Temporal Tower that they could stop the Planet's Paralysis from ever happening, but it would also mean that everyone from this time would disappear.

"Is that your whole plan?" Celebi asked.

"That's the gist of it." Grovyle said.

Celebi nodded. "Disappearing from this dreaded world of darkness… I would have it no other way! If my role in life is to help the two of you in that mission, then I will gladly give my life to fulfill that role!"

"Thank you, Celebi." Verity said. "Can you take us back now?"

"Not yet." Celebi said. "For such a large journey through time, it will take me a while to prepare. I'll have to open the Passage of Time so the two of you can go into the past. Take the time to look around the clearing for any items that might help you. Then take a bit of time to rest."

"We'll do that." Grovyle said.

The two of them gathered up some items in silence, then when they were fully prepared, they sat and waited for Celebi to finish. A sphere with electricity dancing across the surface appeared in front of her. She threw it at the ground and a couple of arches appeared.

"Behold! The passage of time!" She said. "If you are ready to go now, you should get going before Dusknoir and the Sableye get here."

"Thank you, Celebi." Grovyle said. "For everything."

Celebi smiled. "You've changed, my dear Grovyle. I like this nicer side of you."

Grovyle looked at her awkwardly and turned to Verity. "You ready to go, partner?"

Verity smiled and nodded. "Ready when you are!"

The two of them stepped towards the Passage of Time and a light appeared at the end of the archways. Celebi stopped them again.

"Wait, a second!" She said.

"You know that's technically impossible for us." Grovyle turned to her and got a bit of surprise. Celebi flew up to him and gave him a small kiss on the nose.

"Just… Something for good luck." Celebi's face turned a darker shade of pink. Verity laughed at this. Grovyle seemed just as embarrassed as Celebi was.

"Let's get going." He was obviously trying to act as though nothing had happened, but he failed miserably. Verity was feeling a lot better now than she had been earlier. The two of them stepped forward and entered through the Passage of Time.

The Sableye started to stir. Celebi had almost forgotten about them. With the wave of one of her arms, she closed the Passage of Time and hid herself. What she didn't know is that one of the Sableye had been awake the whole time. When all of them were awake, they rushed off to find their master.

Verity and Grovyle were spinning through space and time on their way to the past. There was a sudden strike of lightning that damaged part of their time travel path.

"Whoa!" Verity grabbed onto Grovyle's hand and he tried his hardest to hold onto her.

Up ahead he could see a light. That had to be the exit! Lightning struck again and Verity screamed.

"Are… Are you okay!" Grovyle asked fearfully.

"No!" Verity's grip on Grovyle's hand was slipping. "Don't let go!"

"Just a little longer…" Grovyle said with his eyes on the light at the end of the tunnel. "Come on! Hang on!"

"N-No! I can't… hold on…!" Verity shouted. She was about to slip. If they were separated like this, what would happen!

Lightning struck again and cut their time travel path in two. There was a burst of light. Grovyle couldn't see what had happened, but he heard Verity scream. The light was so harsh. He looked around frantically but couldn't find her anywhere. His consciousness was slipping. It was too much for him.

Grovyle woke up a while later on the edge of a cliff above a small forest. He got up and looked around. A breeze blew past. It was chilling. The trees were covered with leaves. It was still so cold, and still so dark… This couldn't be the past… Hardly anything had changed! Time moved, but it was still a world of darkness, aside from a few small specks of light in the sky.

"VERITY!" He shouted out over the forest. A few pokemon got spooked and flew from the trees, but Verity was still nowhere to be seen. He looked around frantically. Then, to his right, he noticed the world wasn't so dark after all.

There was a small bit of light poking up from the horizon. He looked at it and realized that it was moving slowly and the sky was growing steadily brighter. Then it happened: the sun rose. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He felt the warm light shining on him and saw the light from the sun casting shadows on all of the trees. All around him the pokemon of this world were starting to stir.

"Amazing…" He realized that he was crying. "I hope… Verity's watching this… Breloom, Ninetales, my mother, and Celebi… What would they all say?" But he was at a loss for words. He realized they would probably be too. "What would Verity say?" He thought about this for a moment. "Time might be like a double edged sword, but there are some things that just can't be preserved." That's what she would have said. Time no longer seemed like a double edged sword. It was a blessing, not a curse. Grovyle wished he could live in this world forever, but then he realized that if he didn't disappear, this amazing sight would be gone forever.

Grovyle wiped the tears from his eyes. "Verity, I know you're out there! If we both look for the Time Gears, we're bound to run into each other again! So let's both do our best!"

He jumped off of the cliff and through the trees, off to find the Time Gears and save the world.

Back in the future world of darkness, Dusknoir looked up the steps of the library where Verity had lived for so many years.

"Lord Dusknoir, what are we doing here?" The Sableye asked. This had immediately become his favorite Sableye after he explained the plan that he overheard Grovyle telling Celebi. Now Dusknoir knew everything. He even took to letting this Sableye ride around on his shoulder.

"Isn't it obvious?" Dusknoir asked. "Master Dialga has ordered us to go to the past and bring the traitors back to be rid of them. That's what we'll do. But while the two of them have done all of their running around, I doubt Grovyle has learned anything about the past. Verity, on the other hand, probably knows a great deal. If we are to catch them, we must know everything we can about the world we are going to."

"I get it now! Weh-heh-heh-heh!" The Sableye said. "You're a genius, Lord Dusknoir."

"I will use this library to learn all there is to know." Dusknoir said. "I'll know more even than the pokemon of that time. Then… Grovyle and that traitor Verity won't stand a chance."


End file.
